Thanks to Ryan Mitchell

a more detailed howto
http://www.sshkeychain.org/mirrors/SSH-with-Keys-HOWTO/SSH-with-Keys-HOWTO.html

Create your keys using your local machine:
$ssh-keygen -t dsa

When asked for a passphrase do not enter one just press enter twice.
The new keys are stored in .ssh in your home directory
id_dsa (your private key)
id_dsa.pub (your public key)

Copy your public key to the schools server
$scp id_dsa.pub user@jaguar.ecst.csuchico.edu:.
$ssh into the server and execute these commands:
$mkdir .ssh
$chmod 700 .ssh
$cd .ssh
$touch authorized_keys
$chmod 600 authorized_keys
$cat ../id_dsa.pub >> authorized_keys
$rm ../id_dsa.pub

then when you use scp into jaguar you will not need a password.