Students might no longer be able to use their Bakersfield College e-mail account or sign up for one.

The proposal to end this service was put forth by the Kern Community College District’s technology committee and is being considered by BC’s Information Services committee.

“The factors that prompted this request are the cost, (which is) $35,000 a year, plus $11,000 which will be spent next year upgrading hardware and software, and the fact that the other two colleges in our district do not provide student e-mail,” said Bill Moseley, IS committee co-chair.

He said the decision will come down to whether the usefulness of providing such a service is worth that amount.

“Right now, the ISIT committee is trying to get an accurate picture of how much the student e-mail is being used, and whether it is really a valuable resource to our students,” Moseley said.

“We believe that students should have access to e-mail and would make sure that all students who need assistance in obtaining free email with providers such as Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail would have the assistance they need.”

That is fine with some students.

“I don’t really care if they stop offering (BC) e-mail. I just use Yahoo,” said Paul Galamino, 29, a history and art student.

Many other students, however, said they did not need it but voiced reservations about getting rid of the service.

“It doesn’t matter that much to me, but I’m sure there are people in this campus who need it,” said Diane Mayes, 41, an industrial psychology student.

Moseley said the committee will only stop offering the service if they deem it is not vital for student learning.

“I don’t believe that anyone on campus would vote to get rid of something that is truly useful to students. We just need to find out if it is useful or not, and whether something that would cost a lot less to the college could be equally useful,” he said.

“Regardless of what is decided, the plan is to continue to help students who need help getting an e-mail address. None of the other services that the college offers will be affected by this.”