University professors

I might well be wrong about this (the iPod deal has not been formally announced for this year, has it?), but...

There are at least three major classes of educational purchasers:

- Students purchasing equipment for personal use
- Educational employees (faculty / staff) purchasing equipment for personal use
- Insitutional purchases (i.e. equipment bought by and for the institution)

What you're describing falls into the last category; the deals like the iPod deal are typically just for the first two categories. You get bumped into the last category definitionally as soon as you're buying the computer with a University purchase order or against a University departmental purchasing credit card / account. The advertised pricing and deals on the Apple Store for Education all apply to the first two categories of purchasers. Once you're in the latter category, your pricing (which will typically be even lower, but will not be eligible for any student promotions) will be determined by your University's buying agreement.

In other words, unless your university's buyers negotiated a deal to get iPods out of Apple with University hardware purchases (unlikely, because they don't need stacks of free iPods -- it behooves them to go for a lower price), you won't be able to do it.

 

As I understand it, the way what you just said comes out in purchase agreement language is "blah blah blah blah University Property blah blah blah" and the answer is that it is an institutional and not a personal purchase. It's a personal purchase when you pay for it out of your own pocket. It's an institutional purchase whenever the university, a research contract, etc, pays for it.

The best people to ask are your IT people or your IT buyer, or Apple, though. I've never heard of someone being able to do what you want, but I've also never tried to do it.

 

This is your best bet. Will save you the most time and get you the most accurate answers.