Domain Aliases and Redirects

Hi all:
I'm very new to SEO, so please forgive me if my question seems obvious.

I administer one web server, running IIS and Cold Fusion MX. For now, we have one web site for our school, but we're redesigning our site to accommodate different divisions within that school. I've created several domain aliases that point to the same server, although to different URLs. For example, business.myschool.edu points to the Business division, education.myschool.edu points to the Education division, etc. The main school page is myschool.edu, so on that page, I determine what URL the user typed in and then redirect him/her to the appropriate page using meta refresh/redirect tags.

I recently learned that meta refresh tags are not good SEO practice. I've thought of using the CFLOCATION tag in Cold Fusion to redirect, but it's still client-side (or is that not a problem?). Does anyone have any suggestions? I really can't avoid using one server for financial and support/resources reasons.
Thanks!

you need to do whatever it is server-side.
use whatever is available to you.
meta refresh is not server-side.

Thanks -- I knew meta was client-side, but I wasn't sure if it's client-side in general that's the problem or just meta. CFLOCATION, what I wanted to use, is client-side, too, so I guess I need to find a server-side solution. Thanks again.