As a student and teacher at UMass, I can say... (Score 1)

That I'm sure the administration does think this will save money--they don't invest in labs now, and this way they can avoid ever doing so. Further, while $1200-2000 is not so bad for a laptop, it's still a lot for and undergrad putting themself through school working 40hrs/week at a minimum wage job, or a grad student living on a TA's stipend and trying to support a family. I'd also like to point out that we've lost over 200 tenured faculty in the last 10 years that departments have not been allowed to replace. A number of classroom and studio buildings are in danger of being condemned (for real!). if the Board of higher ed wants to give us money, great; computers could be helpful to many students; but we have more pressing needs at the moment.