Yep! Just goes to show you don't always get what you think you paid for.
Grad students are like the rest of us. They are lulled into a false sense
of security by the old gremlin, "it has always worked that way". A plain
scope works just fine for above ground voltage and current measurments --
just be sure the scope is powered through an isolation transformer. All
good shops have one . . . . . don't they??

Bob Swinney

PS: A good way to display AC current is with a current transformer. Wrap a
heavy wire, 1 turn around the whole winding core of a little transformer,
say, a small 110 - 12 V power transformer. Connect that wire in series with
the current leg you wish to measure. You will get a small signal,
calibrateable if desired, across the secondary terminals of the transformer
(another one across the primary also) which can be read on your scope.