At last night’s Undergraduate Association meeting, Provost L. Rafael Reif talked about MIT’s relative financial stability and said that he will not “micromanage” budget cuts.

Electronics supplier Digi-Key has recently agreed to provide a 15 percent discount and free second-day shipping to MIT departments, though students might get the discount for personal use as well.

Parents of college-age children used to be able to count on home-equity loans to help pay tuition, but this is no longer the case with housing values sliding and the mortgage market imposing much tighter restrictions on loans.