Would you be surprised to know that money from Pell grants will be used to purchase ten of Apple’s iPads?

No, seriously - according to this article, a Pell grant will be allocated to fund a development course in Rock Valley College. Rock Valley will be designated as the official Apple iOS training campus to handle the Indiana, Illinois and Missouri regions.

Students enrolled in the college will be able to learn the ins and outs of working as an iOS developer, from basic development and iOS software courses to distribution and marketing platforms to sell the programs they have developed.

This knowledge will allow students to create and sell software applications for various Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad and iTouch.

The ten iPads bought with Pell grant money won’t just be given to the students as glorified play-things either. The iPads will be used for the students to view – and sell – the applications they create during the course of their studies.

While Apple charges $99 to acknowledge the license of a developer, Rock Valley has established a program that allows students and faculty to work with and then distribute programs at no cost. This significantly cuts back on the expenses of a prospective developer looking to take his or her shot at writing up software for Apple’s devices.

Those interested in the program can email associate professor Chuck Konkol via c.konhol@rockvalleycollege.edu or can inquire over phone via 815-921-3164.

Being a developer for Apple Inc. might not be such a bad idea, considering that the company has 364 retail stores in 13 countries along with a well-established online store. It also helps that Apple is the largest technology company in the world when it comes to both revenue and profit.