Mission
As a free service for students at the University of Washington in Seattle, the Student Technology Loan Program (STLP) provides equal access to essential academic technology tools. The program, both funded and operated by students, enriches the UW student experience and facilitates academic success by enabling collaboration, creativity, innovation and learning both inside and outside the classroom.
History
In 2002, STLP began operating with fifteen laptops and ten digital projectors after an initial funding award from the Student Technology Fee (STF) Committee. Since that time, the program has grown to offer over 2300 equipment items from three different office locations on the UW campus.
In 2017, STLP became one of the first two organizations to receive continuous STF funding in the form of a dedicated block fund. Since 2021, the program has consistently served over 4,000 students each academic year representing approximately 9,700 equipment loans and 380,000 cumulative equipment loan days.
Funding
STLP sustains operations by obtaining annual funding from the Services & Activities Fee (SAF) Committee and Student Technology Fee (STF) Committee. For FY25, SAF has authorized an allocation of $248,933 to support the program’s staffing and operations costs. The majority of this funding is allocated for student employee wages while the remaining amount is spent on operating expenses including equipment repair, office supplies, shipping charges and wireless internet hotspots.
Since 2017, the program has received $426,157 in annual STF block funding which is utilized to expand, insure and renew the STLP equipment inventory. In addition to this annual funding, Academic Technologies (AT) provides administrative support in the form of an FTE program manager, office space and technical infrastructure. In FY25, the program’s total operating budget is $675,090.
STLP By the Numbers
- 9704 equipment reservations during the 2023-2024 academic year
- 4018 students served during the 2023-2024 academic year
- 2354 active equipment items
- 1311 laptop/tablet computers
- 600 equipment items eligible for shipping
- 357 new equipment items added in 2024
- 17 student employees
- 3 office locations
Frequently Asked Questions
Both UW Bothell and UW Tacoma maintain their own equipment loan programs and, as such, students enrolled at those campuses are not eligible to borrow equipment through STLP.
STLP is funded by the Services & Activities Fee (SAF) Committee as well as the Student Technology Fee (STF) Committee which are included in the cost of quarterly tuition. So long as you are enrolled for the current academic quarter, you are eligible to utilize the program at no additional charge. Fees will apply if equipment is damaged, lost or stolen while in your possession.
Please call/text 206-685-6090 for exact equipment availability. Walk-ins will be accommodated to the best of our ability; however, same-day equipment inventory is extremely limited.
Please review the loan period indicated at the point of making your equipment reservation. Equipment items are made available for 10-day, 25-day or 50-day (Full Quarter) loan periods. Otherwise, please ask program staff at the point of equipment checkout.
Extensions of equipment reservations are not permitted. All equipment items must be returned at the end of the designated loan period. You may review the scheduled return date of your equipment loan at any time by visiting the My Bookings page. This policy is intended to promote equal access to equipment and prevent monopolization through regular turnover of items.
Renewals of equipment reservations are not permitted. All equipment items must be returned at the end of the designated loan period. You may review the scheduled return date of your equipment loan at any time by visiting the My Bookings page. This policy is intended to promote equal access to equipment and prevent monopolization through regular turnover of items.
No. All equipment must be checked out and returned from the same office for which you made the original equipment reservation.
Equipment must be returned before making a new reservation for the same equipment type. Based on availability, equipment may be reserved and checked out as early as the next business day (excluding equipment available for same-day checkout).
Example: If you return equipment and make a new reservation before the close of business the same day, you will be eligible to checkout as early as the next business day. If you return equipment and make a new reservation after the close of business the same day, you will be eligible to checkout on the day after the next business day.
Medical students who are registered for the current academic quarter are eligible to borrow STLP equipment. However, medical students should be aware that STLP equipment is not HIPAA compliant as it is not intended to be utilized in patient settings. Please consult your department and/or UW Medicine IT for resources that may be used in patient settings.
Teaching Assistants who are registered for the current academic quarter are eligible to borrow STLP equipment. However, TAs are encouraged to review resources available through Academic Technologies including equipment reservations for quarter-long courses. Extensions or renewals of STLP equipment items are not permitted regardless of TA positions.
The following applications are installed on macOS laptop computers: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Atom, Audacity, Cyberduck, Eclipse, FileZilla, Firefox, GarageBand, Google Chrome, Handbrake, iMovie, jGRASP, Keynote, Microsoft Office 2019 (Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word), MySQL Workbench, Numbers, Pages, Panopto, Processing, QuickTime Player, R, RStudio, Safari, Skype, Slack, Visual Studio Code, VLC, Zoom.
The following applications are installed on Windows laptop computers: Acrobat Reader DC, Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 (Access, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, Word, Skype for Business), VLC Media Player, Zoom.
When borrowing a laptop, STLP staff will explain the login procedure at the point of checkout. If you did not receive this information or have forgotten, please text 206-685-6090.
STLP now offers a limited number of Wi-Fi hotspots for internet connectivity. Coverage is limited to 5G speeds in the US T-Mobile service area. An unlimited data plan is included with each device. Please consult IT Connect, City of Seattle, or the Lifeline Program for additional internet connectivity resources (including free or discounted services).