Microsoft Campus Agreement or MSCA is a program intended to offer significant discounts on Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 products to students, faculty, and staff of select universities which enter into a yearly contract with Microsoft. (Windows XP Professional

Windows XP

Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

 sells, at some University stores, for as low as $10.00

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

 https://software.tamu.edu/sell-unsecure/products.aspx.) Each software package available under the MSCA can be purchased only once. Upon graduation, students can typically receive perpetual licenses for the purchased software.

Current Arrangement

Software currently sold under MSCA licenses includes Windows XP Professional, versions of Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...

 and the Visual Studio .NET suite of developer tools.

Additionally, MSCA licensing currently requires that those who purchase Windows XP Professional have an existing Windows license and allows for Office products to be installed on, at most, two computers.

Legacy Licenses

Prior to 2003, MSCA licensed software was distinguishable from non-MSCA licensed software in that the CDs were not holographic

Holography

Holography is a technique that allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later reconstructed so that when an imaging system is placed in the reconstructed beam, an image of the object will be seen even when the object is no longer present...

, did not require activation

Product activation

Product activation is a license validation procedure required by some proprietary computer software programs. In one form, product activation refers to a method invented by Ric Richardson and patented by Uniloc where a software application hashes hardware serial numbers and an ID number specific...

 (for those products which would have otherwise required activation), and, in some cases, did not require a valid license key

CD key

A product key, also known as a Software key, is a specific software-based key for a computer program. It certifies that the copy of the program is original. Activation is sometimes done offline by entering the key, or with software like Windows XP online activation is required to prevent multiple...

.

Examples of participating universities

• Ball State University
  Ball State University
  Ball State University is a state-run research university located in Muncie, Indiana. It is also known as Ball State or simply BSU.Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans and includes 106 buildings...
  
  
• California State University
  California State University
  The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
  
  
• Community Colleges of Spokane
  Community Colleges of Spokane
  Community Colleges of Spokane is a community college district based in Spokane, Washington, USA. Founded in 1963, CCS serves some 38,600 students a year, spread across a service district in Eastern Washington. It comprises Spokane Community College, Spokane Falls Community College and the...
  
  
• DeVry University
  DeVry University
  DeVry University and DeVry Institute of Technology are divisions of DeVry Inc , a proprietary, for-profit higher education organization that is also the parent organization for Keller Graduate School of Management, Ross University, American University of the Caribbean, Apollo College, Western...
  
  
• Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is a public university located in Hong Kong. Established in 1991 under Hong Kong Law Chapter 1141 , it is one of the nine universities in Hong Kong.Professor Tony F. Chan is the president of HKUST...
  
  
• Iowa State University
  Iowa State University
  Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
  
  
• Lancaster University
  Lancaster University
  Lancaster University, officially The University of Lancaster, is a leading research-intensive British university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established by Royal Charter in 1964 and initially based in St Leonard's Gate until moving to a purpose-built 300 acre campus at...
  
  
• Life Pacific College
  Life Pacific College
  Life Pacific College was founded in Echo Park, Los Angeles, California, in 1923 as Echo Park Evangelistic and Missionary Training Institute by Aimee Semple McPherson. Its name was changed to LIFE Bible College, LIFE standing for "Lighthouse of International Foursquare Evangelism", in 1926 when it...
  
  
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
  
  
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  The Norwegian University of Science and Technology , commonly known as NTNU, is located in Trondheim. NTNU is the second largest of the eight universities in Norway, and, as its name suggests, has the main national responsibility for higher education in engineering and technology...
  
  
• Morrisville State College
  State University of New York at Morrisville
  Morrisville State College, formerly the State University of New York at Morrisville or SUNY Morrisville, is a college of the State University of New York. It offers 22 bachelor degrees and a wide variety of associate degrees at two campuses in Central New York: Morrisville and Norwich...
  
  
• Oklahoma State University
• Purdue University
  Purdue University
  Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
  
  
• Texas A&M University
  Texas A&M University
  Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
  
  
• Texas Tech University
  Texas Tech University
  Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
  
  
• University of Calgary
  University of Calgary
  The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
  
  
• University of Chicago
  University of Chicago
  The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
  
  
• University of Florida
  University of Florida
  The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
  
  
• University of Houston
  University of Houston
  The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
  
  
• University of Iowa
• University of Leeds
  University of Leeds
  The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
  
  
• University of Texas at Austin
  University of Texas at Austin
  The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
  
  
• University of Twente
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a private university located in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States.Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities...
  
  
• University of Westminster
  University of Westminster
  The University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...
  
  
• Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas (ICUT), representing approximately forty Texas institutions of higher learning, entered an annual Consortium Campus agreement beginning in 2000 to provide all member institutions with MSCA access. ICUT members represent over 85,000 full-time students and nearly 30,000 part-time students. Some members are listed below:
  • Abilene Christian University
    Abilene Christian University
    Abilene Christian University is a private university located in Abilene, Texas, affiliated with Churches of Christ. ACU was founded in 1906, as Childers Classical Institute...
    
    
  • Baylor University
    Baylor University
    Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
    
    
  • Beijing Jiaotong University
    Beijing Jiaotong University
    Beijing Jiaotong university is one of the oldest universities in Mainland China.-History:It is a component of Jiaotong University....
    
    
  • Dallas Baptist University
    Dallas Baptist University
    Dallas Baptist University , formerly known as Dallas Baptist College, is a Christian liberal arts university located in Dallas, Texas. The main campus is located approximately fifteen miles southwest of downtown Dallas overlooking Mountain Creek Lake...
    
    
  • Hardin-Simmons University
    Hardin-Simmons University
    Hardin–Simmons University is a private Baptist university located in Abilene, Texas, United States.-History:Hardin–Simmons University was founded as Abilene Baptist College in 1891 by the Sweetwater Baptist Association and a group of cattlemen and pastors who sought to bring Christian higher...
    
    
  • McMurry University
    McMurry University
    McMurry University, founded in 1923, is a private co-educational university in Abilene, Texas. It is a liberal arts school offering forty-one majors in the fields of fine arts, humanities, social and natural sciences, education, business, and religion, and nine pre-professional programs, including...
    
    
  • Rice University
    Rice University
    William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
    
    
  • Shandong University
    Shandong University
    Shandong University is a public comprehensive university in Shandong, China. It is one of the largest universities in China by student population and is supported directly by the national government....
    
    
  • Southern Methodist University
    Southern Methodist University
    Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
    
    
  • Texas Christian University
    Texas Christian University
    Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ...
    
    
  • University of Dallas
    University of Dallas
    The University of Dallas is a private, independent Catholic regional university located in Irving, Texas, established in 1956, which is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. According to U.S...
    
    

External links

• Microsoft Campus and School License Rights and Product Use Rights