SAN JOSE, Calif. — It is a rite of fall almost as familiar as homecoming: Excited Stanford students decorate their new rooms with desktop computers, laptops, printers, game consoles, wireless routers and assorted electronic gizmos built at home over summer vacation.

Then something breaks. Or freezes. Or takes down an entire dormitory's network.

Their salvation is, increasingly, fellow students. The unsung heroes of modern academia, these youths are hired by universities to respond to the proliferation — and diversity — of electronic emergencies. At Stanford, Santa Clara University, the University of California-Berkeley and dozens of other campuses across the United States, they are the first-line responders to tech trouble.

Trained in both technology and psychology, they live in the dorms and are on call, day and night. They're part geek, part crisis counselor — and extremely popular.

"Students panic. And they're not very patient," said Brandon Smith, 23, a residential computing consultant at Stanford, one of 101 students who serve as computer crisis managers for $170 to $190 a week, about the cost of a dorm room. "They need the file — now. The computer — now."

Each incoming class of college students is more "wired" than the last, with higher expectations of speed, access and convenience. Gone are batik bedspreads and Che posters; instead, many rooms resemble the showroom at Fry's Electronics.

Stanford sophomore Steve Nguyen, a 20-year-old former residential computer consultant, knows the challenges of creating a high-tech dorm room. He has squeezed seven computers into his small shared room. He left three at his San Jose home.

One of those in his room is for studies, video-editing and Photoshop. Another, an electronic file cabinet, stores friends' music and photos for a dorm yearbook. He has a secondhand Mac, rescued from a life as a doorstop. His sentimental favorite was built at home with his brother. A few others are "loaners." Then there's the laptop he takes to class.

A recent Stanford survey shows that 99 percent of students have at least one computer; 9 percent have two or more. More than half of Stanford's undergraduates use a computer more than four hours a day.

But many of these digitally dependent students are users, not fixers.

"Most students don't understand how unreliable these things are," said Ethan Rikleen, Stanford's network and systems administrator for student computing.

The hired students help handle the growing workload. In a system first created 20 years ago, Stanford recognized that residential consultants, supported by a staff of professional technicians and administrators, offered a practical solution to a growing problem. Smart and empathetic, the students offer peace of mind. And they prevent parental interference. In one tale, perhaps apocryphal, a well-meaning father hammered cables into phone jacks on an entire dorm floor.

The ideal candidate isn't necessarily a tech wizard, said Jennifer Ly, manager of Stanford's residential computing program. While plenty of residential consultants major in computer science and engineering, others study subjects like biology or philosophy.

"We seek someone with an appetite for problem-solving who can provide excellent customer service, and who is willing to learn."

WIRED STUDENTS

College students are more wired than ever, and their computers are placing new stresses on university tech-support systems. Here's a look at personal technology among Stanford undergraduates in 2006:

99 percent of undergraduates come to school with their own computers.

9 percent have two or more computers.

90 percent have a laptop.

70 percent have a printer.

79 percent have a cell phone.

13 percent have a game console.

22 percent have scanners.

61 percent have a digital camera or video camera.

67 percent have a portable music player.

Source: Stanford University