Bri, in the meantime just get a lap top desk that actually sits on your lap. It just a hard surface with a soft bottom so your laptop can breath. Sitting at a desk for hours doing homework takes a toll on your back, I feel ya!

They should compensate for you somehow. If not you may have to use the school computers until you get it fixed. Explain your situation and see what they say!

I LOVE my lap top. It's a Dell XPS 1330, it's actually a 1300 dollar laptop but I got it used in great shape for 800. My brother is a systems engineer and he rebuilt it for me so it's good as new. I had an XPS before this and will always stick with them. They are AWESOME laptops. This one is extremely quiet, sometimes I can't tell its on! It does get somewhat warm when it's been on my lap but if its on a table it doesn't. It doesn't have a huge memory... the reason for the price is because the screen is LED and it's got a bigger battery, so when it's new it is supposed to last up to 8 hours. Mine is almost 2 years old though so it lasts about 3.5 hours.
Anyways, a thought for you whenever you get a new one in the future.

I hope they work with you on this! Good luck! I know how important a laptop is in college. Most everything is online now!