Free iPads for all IIT freshmen

The Illinois Institute of Technology will be giving the latest technology craze -- Apple's iPad -- to its freshmen students.

IIT spokesman Evan Venie says giving the Web-enabled portable computer tablet to its nearly 600 incoming freshmen is expected to cost the university about $250,000.

According to Venie, IIT faculty and officials envision the students using the iPad in class to take notes, in addition to using its other applications.

Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania and George Fox University in Oregon also have announced plans to give iPads to students, with George Fox giving them a choice between the iPad and the MacBook.

IIT's decision to provide the device comes days after President Barack Obama -- at a Hampton University commencement speech -- called iPads and other electronic devices forms of entertainment, not tools of empowerment.