c/o Sam Hilton, News Editor

Starting in Fall 2022, incoming first-generation, low-income (FGLI) students have the opportunity to receive laptops from the University free of charge. These students will be able to keep the computers throughout their time at the University and beyond, as the program purchases the devices on behalf of the students. 

Vice President & Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Amin Gonzalez ’96 said that 150 new students, including some transfer students, received new 13-inch MacBook Air laptops with M1 chips, which came with AirPods as a part of Apple’s 2021 Back to School promotion.

“The program is an admission initiative designed to provide eligible students on financial aid laptops to ensure they are able to immediately engage Wesleyan’s academic program on comparable footing to their more affluent peers,” Gonzalez wrote in an email to The Argus. “The feedback from eligible students has been positive and appreciative.”

Gonzalez highlighted the help of Assistant Dean of Admission Sebastian St. Ivory and Associate Director of Retail Services Samantha Burr with the program, and noted that the laptops are covered with Safeware warranties for all four years students spend at Wesleyan.

“The devices belong to the students themselves, not the university, and are covered from theft, manufacture defects, and/or accidental damage for the four years students are enrolled at Wes, including during study abroad [and/or] internships away from campus,” Gonzalez wrote in an email to The Argus. 

Dean for Academic Equity, Inclusion, and Success and Interim Co-Vice President for Equity and Inclusion April Ruiz offered insights into what the energy was like as students from the class of 2026 came to pick up their new technology.

“It was incredibly special to see the smiles on the faces of students and their families and supporters throughout [First Things First] arrival day after they had picked up their laptops from Cardinal Tech,” Ruiz wrote in an email to The Argus. “We’re so happy to see students pick up their machines from Cardinal Tech while we were checking them in for First Things First Pre-Orientation at the start of the school. This laptop program plays an important role in ensuring all of our students have a smooth start to their journey at Wesleyan.”

Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) Student Budget Committee Vice-Chair Briana Rodriguez Castillo ’23 said that while the free laptop program is a mark of progress for FGLI students, it is also bittersweet for those who have been advocating for such change for years.

“I felt like it was a very big, good step, especially since I know that over the past few years, students on WSA have been trying to meet that need by doing laptop loaner programs,” Rodriguez Castillo said. “It’s good to see that things are changing, but I think I also…came to the realization that when you’re doing advocacy, you have to live with the fact that things probably won’t happen until you’re gone.” 

Rodriguez Castillo pointed out that this is still an area of need for junior and senior FGLI students that will not be met because the program is only aimed at first-years.

“It continues to be a burden for a lot of FGLI students, and I feel like they’re just kind of forgotten by the administration,” Rodriguez Castillo said. 

Nevertheless, Rodriguez Castillo noted that she felt pleasantly surprised by the University’s comparatively easy action in this case, comparing it to past initiatives regarding financial equity and inclusion.

“It’s very wild to me,” Rodriguez Castillo said. “Wesleyan very rarely is just like, ‘Here, I’m just gonna give this to you,’ because usually, it’s like, ‘No, prove to me that you actually need it, and then I will give it to you.’ That’s the kind of vibe that I get from the emergency fund or the book supplies.”

Correction: an earlier version of this article stated that students must return the computers upon graduating. However, the University purchases the devices on behalf of the students so that each student participating in the program can own their own laptop.

Elias Mansell contributed reporting and can be reached at emansell@wesleyan.edu. 
Aris Dashiell can be reached at adashiell@wesleyan.edu.