On 10/27/10 1:02 PM, Daniel Golding wrote: > > I suspect the board will set some kind of a discount for students. > Personally, I would support a very large discount for full time students. > > That being said, I'm also a bit disappointed that the specific student > membership didn't survive. I think the educational mission is extremely > important from both an altruistic and a business point of view (business > == our real businesses, not NANOG).
This was an area where the WG had quite a bit of discussion, and student discounts never got unanimous support. NewNOG is not a student organization that is supported by obligatory student (college) fees that, in turn, fund the organization. It is not an organization that targets students as part of it's mission, not a student outreach organization. NewNOG is a not-for-profit organization formed to provide a set of mailing lists, and organize events, such as semi-annual conferences. When we were discussing the fee structure in August and September, I used this argument, and nobody could offer me a convincing counter argument. My argument was... If we are offering a "fellow" membership for someone that has contributed a extraordinary amount to the community, then are we saying that students are more important to the community than people that would be regular members? That students contribute more to the value of NewNOG than people that are not students? It seems that the main reason why people are pushing for a student discount is because they assume that students can't afford it. But, I counter that many of the students that I went to school with had no problem spending $100 or more a week on beer. $100 a year for membership does not seem like a barrier to their participation. I would be more willing to support a hardship discount than a student discount because I don't believe that the value of student contributions to be more than that or someone that has a low income, but is also not a student. I would say that someone should be able to get discount on their membership if they otherwise qualify, but make less than $X per year. Many full time students would probably qualify for this. Of course, we would need to see some proof that they qualify before we accept it. -Sean _______________________________________________ Nanog-futures mailing list Nanog-futures@nanog.org https://mailman.nanog.org/mailman/listinfo/nanog-futures
