My previous life had me using 'scopes every day. My experience: HP/Agillent got into the business because of a decision by the Navy, not because they built good scopes. I love everything else they make but...
Tektronix, on the other hand, builds scopes you can beat the crap out of. I'm talking "put it on the back of a golf cart and drag it around an accelerator" or "I'm in the middle of a desert and I need a scope" crap out of. Reliable as hell, and thats a critical thing for a school. My engineering department had us sleeping on lab benches to wait to get access to the few working Siemens logic analyzers, so reliability is key.
Pay the money, go with Tek. They'll work well, and continue to work.