At my uni, it's pretty much solved by having the student's computer society own the most capable machines on campus (sponsored by Facebook if I've understood th

At my uni, it's pretty much solved by having the student's computer society own the most capable machines on campus (sponsored by Facebook if I've understood things correctly). If any one want something done, they just ask the root of the society, and move on with their newfound computer resources. This access can range from a tiny VPS (automatic access for all students) to shell access to the (small but capable) HPC cluster.