“There are so many ‘what ifs’ that I don’t even want to take any action to divert people from their work until we know that this is a possibility, and we’re not even there yet,” Steen said.

And the cost is such that it would require a significant re-prioritization of computing service resources.

“This will take a major investment up front, and it’s a matter of priorities and how money will be spent,” Steen said.

According to Steen, Northwestern raised room rates for every student by $120 a year to defray costs of setting up the cable system.

A Northwestern-like plan would cost Harvard about $2 million over four years without improving existing infrastructure. That cost has to be weighed against that of a full re-wiring, which would improve data transfer speeds across the board.

“We just had this enormous increase [in tuition], and one of the issues is, would Harvard raise the dorm rate,” Steen said.

But Kauble said the benefit to students would be worth the room rate increase.

“I can assure you that the cost of cable to students through this system will be far less than the typical monthly charge of any cable provider,” Kauble wrote in an e-mail.

And Kauble said he hopes that tomorrow’s meeting will be the first step toward resolving the issue of testing.

“If the Committee on House Life approves the proposal, and agrees with the position of the Undergraduate Council, testing the system in the coming weeks would be the next step,” Kauble said.

“An opportunity for the administration to improve the quality of life of Harvard undergraduates has arisen,” he said. “It is my hope that they will seize the opportunity and make this proposal a reality.”

—Staff writer Katharine A. Kaplan can be reached at kkaplan@fas.harvard.edu.