With their budgets under increasing pressure, many campus IT directors are considering open source projects for the first time. On the face of it, the savings can be significant. Commercial emergency-planning software can cost upward of six figures, for example, whereas the open source Kuali Ready might run as little as $15,000 per year when hosted by a consortium. But it's important not to be seduced by the numbers alone. While these vendors can save institutions time, money, and resources, it's important for IT leaders to clarify exactly how the relationship will work and what's included in the service contract. Many of the issues that IT departments routinely hash out with proprietary software vendors apply in the open source market, too. Total cost of ownership and return on investment are probably the two biggest, but there are some questions unique to the open source arena that need to be answered as well. This article discusses seven questions IT leaders must have answers to before taking the plunge: (1) Is there a rich ecosystem around the software?; (2) What type of governance structure does the open source project utilize?; (3) How active is the vendor in the open source community?; (4) What are the licensing options, and what are the exit costs?; (5) How flexible is the vendor?; (6) How engaged will the vendor be with IT staff?; and (7) Which charges are additional?