In August the University of Nebraska Lincoln signed a Campus Agreement with Microsoft. Under the agreement, students can purchase the Windows XP Professional upgrade for $5 and Office XP for $10.
However, under the surface of the agreement are several stipulations.
All students are required to pay the $0.50 fee per credit hour to pay for the agreement. This includes those that don't have a computer, can't use the software, or actively don't support Microsoft. There is no way to opt out of the fee requirement like many other fees.
If the student doesn't graduate, or they transfer, the student must remove the software from their system and return the CD's. This can mean if they upgraded to Windows XP, the basically must erase the entire hard drive.
If the University decides to cancel the agreement, all students that took advantage of the program must delete the programs from their systems and return the CD's. This is a way to trap the University in to the contract.
It may even be illegal under Nebraska monopoly law. 59-501 and 59-801 may apply. The university is a community, and under 59-501 by selling the products in the community for such a lower rate, other businesses in the community are discriminated against and are unable to compete.
No support is provided from Microsoft for the products. The University must train and provide the support to students themselves which adds additional costs.
Doing the math that the contract will cost the university:
~20000 students
12 credit hours per semester for a full time student
2 semesters
$0.50 per credit hour
= $240,000 per year
In the face of recent budget cuts, this could have gone a long ways toward preserving several programs and employee layoffs.