Senior Perspective: Rider cable changes cause chaos

As students and incoming freshmen start a new year on campus, Rider has once again tried to improve the standard of living for its residents. This time, the change included new digital channels that allowed televisions on campus to have high definition (HD) cable. Although Rider’s cable service provider, Comcast, made the decision to eliminate the old analog ways, for some students it came as a surprise.
There were people who thought Rider would be providing more assistance with the change. Now, I’m not sure what other students who received the email notifiying the campus of the change thought, but I thought that Rider would be providing the cables they insisted we needed for older televisions. Of course, by making that assumption I ended up hauling a chunky old television from my mom’s house here to find out that even our own OIT department recommended we go off campus to buy the wire, even given its “pricey-ness.”
It clearly states in the email, “If you have a standard non-digital or non-HD television that is cable ready, you will not be able to receive the cable channel lineup listed on the OIT Media Services website. All older TVs that are cable ready will not be capable of receiving cable TV service.” Unfortunately, Rider does not even give an oncampus option that can be affordable for students. Maybe offering a deal to buy or rent a cable box through the school or even sending an email suggesting affordable places to purchase a new TV, or an affiliation with somewhere like Best Buy or PC Richards would have helped students more.
For someone like me, who has been a resident at Rider for three years, the ultimate predicament was whether to invest in a cord for a television that will be of no use in six months, or invest in a new television that I will have no room to bring back home in six months. As a college student, my budget is tight and while it is great that Rider provided such a detailed email on which type of cord to buy and what options are available, many students needed to figure out where to buy a cord, which added hassle to the transition back to the dorm lifestyle.
-Jessica Zimmer
Senior graphic design major