Budgetary constraints are almost a constant challenge confronted by academia. In the case of small colleges and universities, these constraints become even more pronounced when these institutions enhance their programs to meet the needs of their constituents. While in some cases program enhancement might simply be accomplished by hiring new faculty members; in others, it might require additional resources. This is especially true for computer science or management information systems programs; the changes or enhancements in these programs also mean additional computing lab support. However, budgetary constraints, lack of physical space to house the labs, conflicting needs of different courses, and rapid obsolescence of technology only exacerbate this dilemma. Needless to say, overcoming these challenges requires some pragmatic thinking and approaches. Based on their own experiences in dealing with these same challenges, the authors suggest the following guidelines for configuring computing labs that are cost-effective, flexible and versatile: (1) Categorize computing courses, based on their computing support requirement, into groups such as general computing, advanced computing, and special projects courses; (2) As far as possible, support general computing courses through open/general labs and, thereby, minimize the demand for dedicated/special computing labs; (3) The advanced computing courses will likely require dedicated labs, due to unique software and/or hardware requirements. For most institutions, creating a dedicated lab for every course is infeasible. Consequently, design a lab that can support multiple courses by use of removable hard drives and flexible lab configurations; (4) If the physical space is not available to house a dedicated computer lab, a classroom may be networked into an isolated laptop-computing lab. To further enhance the flexibility of this lab, it may be connected to the institution's computing networks through wireless network configuration; (5) For special projects, develop a dedicated computing lab with highly flexible configuration and infrastructure to accommodate the unique computing requirements of different projects. Furthermore, this lab should mimic the network and organizational configuration of a typical organization to impart real-life flavor to special projects; and (6) With proper supervision, policies and procedures, student personnel may be employed to maintain and manage specialized labs. This will help contain personnel costs and at the same time furnish valuable experience to the student personnel. These guidelines should help small U.S., as well as international, institutions that are planning or are in the process of configuring computing labs to support their computer science and management information systems programs. (Contains 2 figures.)