STEP Program Impact

The Student Technology Equity Program (STEP) provides critical technology resources to students from all across campus to ensure they are able to engage competitively as scholars, researchers and instructors. 

  • In a given academic year, there are approximately 1,000 new recipients and 3,000 continuing recipients. The average loan period is between 2-4 years.

  • 70-75% of recipients each year are undergraduate students, while the remaining 25-30% are graduate and/or professional students. Virtually all recipients have medium to high financial need.

  • 15-20% of recipients hold roles as graduate student instructors and/or undergraduate student instructors.

  • The most widely requested items are laptops, iClickers, headphones, hotspots and bluetooth mice, with laptops and iClickers comprising the overwhelming majority.

  • Turnaround time for most requests is between 5-7 days.

Chart depicts percentage of devices collected by students. Laptops 29.3%, iClicker 16.4% Headphones, Mice 7.7%, Hotspots 6.9%, Drawing tablets 5.9%, Apple adapter 5.3%, Keyboards 4.6%, Other 14.2%

This chart represents the breakdown of devices collected for the fall 2023 and spring 2024 semester.

In students’ words

  • “I truly appreciate the STEP program for lending me a laptop to use. It was the primary device I used since I received it and was incredibly helpful since the Chromebook I had been using had broken and there were financial barriers to buying a new one. STEP has been incredibly helpful for my education.” - Spring 2024 graduate

  • “Thank you for your support during the pandemic years and allowing me to have a resource that allowed me to not stress about the financials in getting new technology for remote learning. This allowed me to study harder and graduate. Much appreciation for the STEP program/staff.” - Spring 2024 graduate

  • “Thank you so much for providing me with STEP hardware. It truly helped me complete my school work without the worry of the financial burden that comes with purchasing a new laptop.” - Fall 2023 graduate

Please also see the STEP Impact Report 2020-2022 for more detail on the initial launch of STEP as a COVID-relief program.

Photo depicts student in glasses and hat collecting their STEP-loaned laptop.