Sites @ Home is a long-term laptop loan program facilitated by Campus Computing Sites and the Tech Help team. Any actively enrolled Ann Arbor student is eligible to borrow one of our well provisioned laptops, and can borrow it for multiple semesters as long as they remain actively enrolled as a student.
You may check out an i7 Windows PC laptop or M2 MacBook Air. You will have local administrative access on the laptop to install or configure software to meet your needs. Remember that active faculty, staff and students can remotely access software available on ITS Campus Computing workstations via Virtual Sites.
Who is this for?
The program is designed to assist graduate and undergraduate students on the Ann Arbor campus who:
- Have an academic need for a more powerful, more reliable, or different OS device from what they currently have available.
- Are actively enrolled in courses, and will be for the duration of their loan.
- Are in the United States and will be in the United States at the end of their loan period to return the device.
How does it work?
- Supply is limited so requests will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis with priority given to students who have a financial need.
- Requests for Mac and Windows machines will be vetted based on need; customers may be offered a different loaner than requested based on identified need and device availability.
- Students are only eligible for one loaner check-out at a time.
- Users must agree to a Sites @ Home laptop loaner program contract upon initiating a loan. The terms agreed to are included as part of the request process.
- The request form is always available, but supplies are limited, so please only request a device if you need it and return it to the Michigan Union Tech Shop if it is no longer needed. Dropping the device off can be done at any time, no appointment needed.
- Your initial request will have an end of loan date. As we get close to the end of your loan, we will reach out to you to coordinate the return or extension of the loan. Anyone who does not extend or return their loan by the initial return or extension date will have their student account automatically charged $1,200 to cover the cost of a replacement device and sleeve.
Interested students may request a loaner by completing the online request form. Be sure to check with your school or college about similar programs.
Program Limitations
- Due to supply and operational limits, this is not a short term/emergency loan program.
- The program is designed for a minimum loan period of one (1) month, though we strive to accommodate unique requests when possible.
- The program does not offer same day service turnaround — requests will be evaluated within 48 hours of receipt.
- There is absolutely no cost to you to borrow this device during the loan as long as you remain eligible and respond to our communications, but you are completely responsible for your data. We recommend that you keep important files on the device backed up on a separate hard drive or in cloud storage in case there is ever an issue and you need to exchange it.