Waggoner Library Student Laptop Fund

Endowment Fund for Replacing Library Laptops for Student Use: Our proposed project is setting up an endowment fund to replace long-term laptops for student use. About two years ago, the library was able to purchase with Covid-related grant funds about 40 laptops, most of which are available for students to check out for long-term use. The laptops have been incredibly popular, and we are concerned about how we will be able to replace them (or at least some of them) as they start to no longer become usable. This year, 90% of the long-term check-out laptops were checked out within the first two weeks of school. Since beginning this service, there have been multiple students who have told us that being able to check out a laptop has been extremely beneficial in helping them get through school. With a significant portion of Trevecca students being fairly low income, not having a laptop or having one that doesn’t work well can be an obstacle to doing well in school. While we realize that setting up an endowment will not make funds available to purchase new laptops immediately, the library team feels like it is a good strategy for replacing these laptops over time, and it is also something we can encourage people to contribute to at other times than Giving Day.