News
Microsoft Surface Leasing No Longer an Option for Students
- By Kurt Mackie
- September 04, 2018
As of Aug. 31, Microsoft's Surface Plus Program for students looking to lease Microsoft Surface devices is no longer accepting applications.
Financing for student leases in the Surface Plus Program was handled by Klarna, a Stockholm, Sweden-based Internet payments provider. Microsoft launched the Surface Plus Program a year ago alongside the Surface Plus for Business program, which is managed by LiftForward. The business leasing program is still continuing.
The Surface Plus Program offered students a 0 percent annual interest rate, but it was just for 24 months. The rate would then increase to 19.99 percent after that time, according to the fine print of the Surface Plus Program contracts.
The supposed benefit of this program is that it would allow students to upgrade the device after 18 months, but students also had to pay extra to get the Microsoft Complete warranty protection, if they wanted it.
The original terms of the Surface Plus Program appear to be still in effect for students that are participants in it. Microsoft is still honoring its Microsoft Surface Standard Warranty and Microsoft Complete for Surface extended warranty.
Microsoft gave no reason for ending the program, but buying Surface devices, which tend to be higher-priced than typical laptops, might have been a bit much for many students. At least in the United States, students have gotten squeezed by the combination of high tuition and textbook costs, along with the high costs of living. A bare-bones Surface device, minus the optional Type Cover and Surface Pen devices, starts at around $799.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.