IT Department - Notebook FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions Concerning the ROSS Notebook Purchase Program

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Yes. If you wish to be reimbursed for the purchase of your laptop you must provide a copy of your receipt for the laptop as well as a written letter explaining your desire for reimbursement to the NJ campus Financial Aid Office. In addition, you must also complete an additional alternative loan application through your alternative lender. If you are a Sallie Mae Signature Loan borrower, you may apply at www.salliemae.com. If you are a TERI Loan borrower, you may apply at www.iefc.com.

How do I purchase an ROSS sanctioned notebook computer if I don’t have a US mailing address?

Students and associates, who do not have US mailing addresses, can contract with any of a number of “freight forwarders” for international shipments. Tropical Shipping is a freight forwarder that frequently ships to St. Kitts & Dominica from their Miami office (1-800-367-6200 for information on arranging shipments). The freight forwarder should be able to give you a US mailing address to send the purchased equipment and arrange for shipment to the island. Please make these arrangements prior to ordering your system as you will need the US address given to you by the freight forwarder. Instruct the freight forwarder to address the international portion of your shipment to yourself in care of either:

{your name here} – Dominica

c/o Ross University School of Medicine

PO Box 266

Portsmouth, Commonwealth of Dominica

West Indies

{your name here} – St. Kitts

c/o Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine

PO Box 366

Basseterre, St. Kitts

West Indies

You will receive notice when your shipment arrives from the Campus mailroom. Make sure to have the appropriate paperwork for clearing your shipments thru customs (itemized invoice with costs, bill of lading, EC dollars {they do not take credit cards} to pay the described fees). NOTE: you will be responsible for all duties, tariffs, port charges, and shipping fees related to your purchase.

Shipping charges vary depending on weight, insurance, shipping method, carrier, etc. You should inquire with the freight forwarder as to the actual shipping charges you will incur. Tropical Shipping has set a flat fee, single box cost for freight forwarding from Miami to either St. Kitts or Dominica of $75USD. This includes shipping fees and insurance coverage for items valued up to $2000 USD. Amerijet is another freight forwarder that offers air cargo service to both islands. Please contact Amerijet in Miami (1-305 593-5500) for air freight forwarding details and costs. Customs fees and port charges will vary by country. Currently, computer equipment carries a 5% customs duty on Dominica, and a 6% duty in St. Kitts. You will also be responsible for any port charges or other fees. These generally run ~5% of the items value. You should plan on paying a total additional expense of 15-25% over the items purchase price to cover freight forwarding, insurance, customs duties, and port fees.

Off island, please use the CDW website to find depot warranty service in your region.

On island, both campuses have Depot warranty service providers available. You may contact them directly, or, have the Campus IT departments verify that a hardware problem exists and arrange for repairs. PLEASE NOTE: Depot warranty service does NOT cover damage due to physical abuse, accident, or acts of God.

Much of the educational material you will receive will be in formats supported by the Microsoft Office suite of applications. Some may be given to you in electronic format. Additionally, some faculty may request or require that you make notes directly in these electronic documents. To prevent version and compatibility issues, Ross University standardizes on MS Office 2003 as our primary student application suite.

Students must first be registered before accessing Ross educational resources. Additionally, both campuses require students to schedule to have personal notebook computer systems configured prior to accessing ROSS local LAN resources. The scheduling process begins after registration and configurations begin the first day of classes. This configuration process involves installation of our corporate virus software solution for which you must purchase a license from the Accounts department at a cost of $15USD. Additionally, we need to register your system on our network and install any critical security updates for your respective operating system.

HOWEVER, both campuses have configured an open “guest” wireless network that allows any user to access http only Internet sites. You may use this wireless guest access to check your hotmail or other Internet email accounts or to browse basic websites. This network is restricted to http traffic only, and is limited in available bandwidth. It is also unencrypted and unauthenticated, so we strongly advice against passing any sensitive information using this guest network.

Make sure to properly insure your shipment with the freight forwarder if shipping internationally. It will be your responsibility to properly secure your system after has been received. Notebook computer systems are prized targets of thieves, so we highly recommend you purchase a laptop security cable; you could find one at most computer or electronics stores. Additionally, we recommend that all notebook owners enable the startup security features available via the BIOS of their systems. This will prevent a thief from accessing any data or making any changes to existing partitions or drives, including restricting the ability to reformat the system. A thief would have to know the password or contact the vendor to acquire a “backdoor” password to access the system. Also, please remember to keep a record of your purchase WITH YOUR SYSTEMS SERIAL NUMBER in a safe location.

Will my personal notebook still be supported if I do not purchase the recommended notebook(s)?

Yes, we will make every effort to enable students who purchase notebooks from other vendors to be configured for access to ROSS resources. However, due to the wide variety of differing hardware and configurations available via the multitude of PC notebook vendors, we may encounter problems with individual systems. If we encounter hardware, firmware, or software based issues for non-recommended systems we must refer the user back to the vendor for resolution. NOTE: Due to warranty restrictions, we cannot provide any hardware based warranty support for non-recommended notebook systems.

Is this program related to the Gateway notebook purchase program provided via the campus bookstores?

No. The campus bookstore program is entirely separate from the ROSS sanctioned CDW purchase program. We will still endeavor to configure systems purchased thru the campus bookstores to access ROSS network resources, however, we will refer you back to the vendor (bookstore) for any hardware, firmware, or software configuration issues we may encounter.