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Texas-based Abilene Christian University recently announced it would give incoming freshman either an iPhone or an iPod touch this fall. While this seems like a gimmick to attract new students—after all, it would be easy enough to bury the cost in tuition—the college asserts this isn't the case.

By providing these converged mobile devices students, 93 percent of which already come to school with their own computers, Abilene Christian University Chief Information Officer Kevin Roberts asserts the university is "choosing to take them to the next level" by making the iPhone and iPod touch an integral part of the learning experience.

Here is how:

Students will use their iPhones and iPod touches to access specific web applications, 15 of which have already been developed by the university.

So freshmen will be able to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors' offices, and check their meal and account balances all from their iPhone or iPod touch, for example.

That way, according to Roberts, the university will "ensure these tools will become critical to the students' learning experience."

The university says it spent the past 10 months preparing for the launch of its new iPhone/iPod touch freshmen program in September. It plans to expand the program in the future