CIT initiated a DormNet pilot project in 1987 to evaluate the delivery of network services to undergraduate students in their dorm rooms. The pilot sought to determine the services that students would find most beneficial and to develop effective ways to provide and support these services. During this multiyear project, CIT increased both the number of services investigated and the number of students served. CIT has since completed the wiring in the upperclass dormitories. In the early years, the University offered LocalTalk access on a subscription basis. Today, the service is ethernet only. In 1993, more than 1,000 students connected from their rooms. In 1994, more than 1,600 undergraduates subscribed. Computing and Information Technology staff organized the effort to install communications boards in undergraduate computers and to provide and configure a set of software tools. Students can purchase a "network-ready" computer from CIT's Microcomputer Distribution Center [MDC].
| year | know about, used |
Male | Female | AB | BSE |
| 1989 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| 1990 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| 1991 | 60% , 18% | 60% , 20% | 61% , 14% | 56% , 17% | 73% , 20% |
| 1992 | 57% , 16% | 64% , 18% | 44% , 12% | 55% , 14% | 62% , 21% |
| 1993 | 47% , 19% | 54% , 24% | 35% , 13% | 44% , 17% | 55% , 29% |
| 1994 | 79% , 42% | 80% , 45% | 77% , 38% | 75% , 38% | 93% , 58% |
| 1995 | 83% , 68% | 82% , 70% | 82% , 65% | 84% , 64% | 81% , 81% |