How SUNY Fredonia Automated Laptop Lending with ForwardPass Smart Lockers

SUNY Fredonia wanted students to be able to borrow a laptop without making a trip to IT or waiting for staff to handle the checkout. The university introduced a self-service laptop lending program in its Innovation Lab using a ForwardPass Smart Locker. Students can now borrow and return charged laptops on their own, while IT keeps a record of each loan.

The program was part of a broader rethink of the Innovation Lab. SUNY Fredonia reduced its fixed desktop stations from 30 to 14, making more room for flexible technology access while keeping laptops available to a campus of around 4,000 students.

What changed in the Innovation Lab:

  • For a campus of around 4,000 students, the lab offers an easier place to borrow a laptop.
  • Students can check out and return laptops themselves, 24/7.
  • The lab now has 14 fixed desktop stations, down from 30, leaving more room for other technology.

Background

SUNY Fredonia is a public university in Western New York with around 4,000 students. The university turned a general computer lab in Fenton Hall into an Innovation Lab where students could explore drone training, 3D printing, podcasting, video editing, and virtual reality.

As part of the redesign, the university wanted students to be able to borrow laptops from the Innovation Lab for short-term use. But a lending program would also mean more checkouts, returns, paperwork, and devices for IT to keep track of.

Mark Mackey, IT Service Delivery Manager at SUNY Fredonia, needed a way to make laptop lending practical for his team. A self-service approach would give students easier access without asking staff to handle every loan.

The challenge

Before the lending program, students who needed a computer had limited options. The Innovation Lab had 30 fixed desktop stations. To borrow a laptop, a student had to travel to an IT office on the outskirts of campus, complete paperwork, and wait for staff to process the request.

SUNY Fredonia needed to:

  • Make laptops easier for students to access within the Innovation Lab.
  • Avoid having IT staff handle every loan and return.
  • Keep a record of who borrowed each laptop and when it came back.

Leaving laptops out for students to take would not give the university the tracking or physical security it needed. A staffed checkout desk would still leave IT handling each transaction.

The solution: Self-service laptop lending

SUNY Fredonia installed a 15-bay ForwardPass Smart Locker in the Innovation Lab so students could borrow laptops without going to the IT office. They can pick up a device from the locker and return it when they’re done.

Each of the 15 bays has a 36W USB-C Power Delivery port and a standard power outlet. Laptops can charge while they’re stored, so the team doesn’t need a separate place to charge returned devices.

A student signs in with an email address and password, takes a charged laptop, and returns it after use. The system records each checkout and return, so IT can see who borrowed a device and when it came back.

For Mackey, that approach fit what the redesigned lab was meant to do:

“The purpose of the Innovation Lab was to allow students to be able to come in at any time during the day, grab a laptop, and whatever they need to do with it, and then put it back.”

The self-checkout kiosk gives students 24/7 access to laptops they can use across campus, in residence halls, or in the community. For a routine loan, they no longer need to make a trip to the IT office.

The result: Fewer fixed desktops and less manual processing

The Innovation Lab now has 14 fixed desktop stations instead of 30. As part of the redesign, that change made room for other ways to use the space, while the laptop lending program continued to give students access to a computer.

The new setup has changed the day-to-day experience for students and IT:

  • More room in the lab: With fewer fixed desktops, the space can support hands-on technologies such as drone training, 3D printing, podcasting, video editing, and virtual reality.
  • Students handle routine loans themselves: They can check out and return a laptop without waiting for IT staff to make the handoff.
  • IT can follow each loan: The locker records checkout and return activity, showing who borrowed a laptop and whether it came back.

That loan history gives IT a record to work from without keeping separate paper records for every checkout. If a laptop is overdue, the team can see who borrowed it and follow up.

Read more: See how IUT Valence uses smart lockers for device loans and self-service charging.

Looking ahead: Expanding laptop access to the library

SUNY Fredonia is also considering how the same approach could work for longer loans. The university plans to expand its smart locker program to the library, where students could borrow laptops for up to a week.

Today, students who need a laptop for longer-term use still have to travel to the IT office. Mackey hopes a library deployment could change that:

“Right now, if students need a long-term loaner, they have to come all the way to our office. That’s what we’d like to change with the new lockers.”

The idea builds on what Fredonia has done in the Innovation Lab: put laptops closer to students while keeping a record of each handoff.

For higher education IT teams, Fredonia’s experience offers a practical example of self-service laptop lending. Students have an easier way to get a device, and IT doesn’t have to handle every routine checkout. Explore higher education device management solutions to see how the same approach can support other campus device needs.

Want to make laptop lending easier without adding a staffed checkout point?

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