Overview
IT Services (ITS) uses a system called recharge billing to help manage "ad-hoc", individually licensed, and/or non-enterprise software used across the university. The recharge model helps ITS cover the costs of supporting these services, and is one way ITS is able to offer and support applications that would otherwise be unavailable for purchase or use across the system.
This approach helps:
- Make software costs fair and transparent and consistent
- Ensure departments pay for what they actually use
- Support the work ITS does to manage, support, and maintain these services
What's Included in the Distributed Software Service
As a part of this service, ITS manages several parts of software licensing, including:
- Buying and renewing licenses
- Reviewing and approving software
- Managing user access and accounts
- Supporting users with technical issues
- Maintaining and monitoring systems
Licensing Renewals
Unless specified in this article, all software licensing auto renews unless IT is notified by September 1 of the billable fiscal year. To add, change, or notify of non-renewal please contact the UAA Technical Support Center at 907-786-4646 or UAA.TechSupport@alaska.edu.
Two Main Ways Software is Billed
-
General Licensing – Departments buy software licenses directly through ITS, often referred to as "ad-hoc" licenses.
-
Cost Distribution – Costs are shared across departments based on how much they use, or a set formula. For example, Microsoft software is billed based on a calculation of full-time employees (FTEs) in a department.
Rates
ITS strives to find the best balance between cost savings and availability. In some cases this may mean a significantly lower price than retail cost. For others it may mean similar pricing to retail but often with enhanced features. For software or applications that are more complex or require extra work for integration and support, ITS adds a minimal 10% administrative fee to help cover that effort. It is anticipated that rates listed will remain within 5-7% of the amounts listed year-over-year as the intent of distributed software central management is to stabilize pricing overall.
License Types and Rate Development
| License Type |
How It Works |
Rate |
| 1-to-1 |
Purchased by request from departments |
At cost + 10% administrative fee |
| Campus-Wide |
Shared across campus |
Cost split based on department usage |
| Set |
Fixed number of licenses |
Cost split among departments using them |
| Cost Distribution |
Shared licenses billed using a set calculation |
Based on pre-determined usage formula |
Important
*These rates are the preliminary rates for FY27 and subject to approval by UAA leadership.
Below is a list of software included in the recharge and the rates for each.
Used for graphic design, video editing, PDF creation, and more.
| License |
Annual Rate* |
| Creative Cloud – Employee |
$299 per user |
| Creative Cloud – Students (semester)1 |
$84 per student seat per semester |
| Creative Cloud – Students (academic year2)1 |
$168 per student seat per academic year |
| Creative Cloud – Device (labs/shared computers) |
$242 per computer |
| Acrobat Pro |
$152 per user |
1 Creative Cloud for Students does not auto renew. The license is issued at a set term, and notice of non-renewal is not needed. Teaching and Research assistants and student workers who require a license as part of their job duties are considered employees and must purchase an employee license.
2 The term of a academic year student license is from the Fall semester to the following Summer semester. These licenses are not transferable between students.
Used for artificial intelligence tasks and queries.
| License |
Annual Rate* |
| Google Gemini |
$185 per user |
| Microsoft Co-Pilot |
$232 per user |
Used for on-demand instructional design module creation.
| License |
Annual Rate* |
| Articulate 360 |
$835 per user |
Used for project-lite management and workflows.
| License |
Annual Rate* |
| UA Licensed (single user) |
$298 per user |
Used for Microsoft Suite products available to students, staff and faculty through M365.
FY26 Microsoft Distribution
Staff and Faculty $87 multiplied by the departments PCN calculation
Shared Student Rate $78 per d-level
Microsoft licensing costs have long been distributed across departments using a calculation based on active positions, rather than per-license purchasing. This includes faculty, staff, and student employees. Rates are based on each department’s PCN data as of October 1 of the previous year and is calculated as:
- Total full-time faculty & staff PCNs * 1
- Total part-time faculty PCNs * 1/3
- Total part-time staff PCNs * 1/2
- Shared Student Rate
- Half of all student employee positions, shared evenly across departments
For FY26, Microsoft distribution costs total approximately $176,589, supporting about 1,768 employees across 231 departmental levels. The licenses included in this cost are:
- Office 365 A5 Suite for Students
- Office 365 A5 Suite for Education Qualified Employees (faculty and staff, excluding trades/adjunct)
- Office 365 A1 Suite for trades and adjunct roles
- Visio Pro site license
- Project Pro site license
Used for Microsoft Pro application based add-ons (not applicable to the web tools available at no cost with M365).
| License |
Annual Rate* |
| A1+ licenses remediated to A5 for qualified staff or Emeriti |
$127 per user |
| Microsoft Project Pro |
$834 per user |
| Microsoft Planner and Project Plan 3 |
$80 per user |
| Microsoft Visio Plan 1 or 2 |
|
| Power Automate Premium |
$110 per user |
Used for marketing and communications.
| License |
Annual Rate* |
| Salesforce Marketing Cloud (Individual User) |
$2,386 per user |
| Salesforce Marketing Cloud (Service Account) |
$3,450 per account |
Used for statistical analysis.
| License |
Annual Rate* |
| Education Analytical Suite for Admin and Teaching/Research |
$1136 per user |
Used for statistics and data analysis.
Other SPSS add-on licenses may be available for purchase as an ad-hoc license. Please submit a software request to inquire about licensing.
| License |
Annual Rate* |
| SPSS Standard Package (includes Advanced Statistics, Custom Tables, and Regression add-ons) |
$165 per computer |
| AMOS add-on |
$146 per computer |
| Missing Values add-on |
$131 per computer |
| Complex Samples add-on |
$194 per computer |
TeamDynamix (TDX) - UAA Applicable Only
Used to manage work requests ("tickets"), assets, and services.
| License |
Rate |
| TeamDynamix (Individual User) |
$525 per user |
Ad-Hoc Licenses (Purchased Individually)
If you do not see the software you are looking for, please submit a software request ticket to inquire. New ad-hoc licenses are purchased individually at the request of a department and the list is being updated often. These are sold at cost plus a 10% processing fee.
- Microsoft tools (e.g., CoPilot, PowerBI, Project, Visio, Power Automate)
- SPSS Term (annual access) Add-ons
- Articulate
- Other software purchased individually through ITS
Need additional help?
If you’d like more information or have questions about billing, please reach out to the UAA Technical Support Center at 907-786-4646 or UAA.techsupport@alaska.edu
For support, requests may be submitted anytime using the Software Request form.
For immediate assistance please use the Contact Us page.