K-12 Printing: Cost-Effective Strategies for Budget-Conscious IT Admins
Did you know that your humble printer may be draining your school budget? The reality is, while K-12 schools are shifting to digital platforms for learning and collaboration, they still rely heavily on good old-fashioned paper—from classroom handouts to report cards. In fact, some estimates show that the average K-12 student can produce up to 100 pounds or 45kg of waste a year, made up predominantly of card and paper.
In a high-volume printing environment, IT administrators must carefully balance budget constraints with the needs of teachers, students, and support staff. But this can be an ongoing challenge with rising costs associated with paper, ink, and electricity.
Let’s look at some strategies for optimizing school printing expenses and reducing printing costs in K-12 education, without sacrificing efficiency or quality.
Understanding the cost drivers in K-12 printing
The amount of printing required in a K-12 school is significantly higher than in most workplaces. Schools use paper materials daily in the classroom for worksheets, exams, assignments, and quizzes. Then there are all the administrative documents, such as reports, letters to parents, and permission slips.
When you’re dealing with hundreds or even thousands of students, printing costs can quickly add up, not only ink, toner and paper, but also power consumption, device maintenance, and replacement. Frequent color printing, particularly for things like presentations, can cause these costs to spiral further.
While students require printing for their education, the school print environment can be complex. It combines a large user base with a growing trend towards Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs. This creates additional cost drivers in the form of time spent by IT teams on printing support and the waste caused by printing excessive or unnecessary materials.
Reducing printing costs in K-12 education
There are several school print management strategies that can help IT admins manage budget challenges, including:
- Embracing digital. Where possible, switching to digital learning management systems and online collaboration tools can reduce the need for paper-based assessments, materials, and communication.
- Exploring print enablement solutions. User management software simplifies printer deployment and user management. This reduces IT administration time and ensures seamless access to printers as students and staff change every year.
- Using a print management solution. A centralized print management solution provides greater control over the entire print infrastructure, allowing IT admins to monitor print activity, identify wasteful practices, and minimize unnecessary printing.
- Optimizing printer settings. You can make substantial cost savings by using a print management solution to promote or enforce printer settings to black-and-white printing or double-sided (or duplex) printing, which reduces paper consumption by up to 50% .
- Implementing print policies. Print management software makes this easy, with a range of features that help you establish clear guidelines around what, when and how to print to significantly reduce waste—for example, setting individual print quotas and limiting color printing.
- Educating staff and students. Make sure everyone in the school community understands the impact of their printing choices and follows printing best practices—fostering a culture of responsibility and sustainability.
- Buying in bulk. Consumables like paper, ink, and toner are costly; schools can secure better pricing on essential supplies by consolidating purchasing and negotiating bulk discounts with suppliers.
- Scheduling routine servicing. Regular printer maintenance can increase their lifespan and efficiency, with fewer breakdowns and less money spent on repairs or replacements.
Leverage cloud printing solutions for schools
We all know that young people (and not so young ones!) are generally glued to their phones when they’re not in class. So, it’s no surprise that students use their phones more than ever for their school printing. But teachers and staff are also constantly moving between campuses, offices and classrooms, so they often need to print on the fly, knowing that their documents will be waiting for them.
Cloud printing solutions such as secure print release enable users to print securely from any device—whether it’s a classroom computer, tablet, or smartphone. They also centralizes print
jobs in a secure cloud environment, simplifying the management of print activity across multiple devices, networks, and even campuses. Crucially, cloud printing reduces costs by eliminating the need for dedicated print servers, reducing IT overhead and hardware expenses while allowing centralized print monitoring.
With a cloud-based print management system, K-12 schools can more effectively monitor usage and enforce cost-saving policies such as restricting large print jobs. This gives IT admins greater control over how printing resources are used in line with their budgets.
Benefits of cost-effective K-12 printing strategies
The obvious benefit of implementing cost-effective printing strategies for education is… *drumroll please* saving money! When schools can better control their printing budgets, they can prevent unexpected expenses, rein in spending on things like ink, paper, and maintenance, and allocate their precious funding to other educational resources.
But it’s also great for the environment: by minimizing waste and promoting responsible printing habits to your staff and students, schools reduce their carbon footprint and contribute to sustainability. Reducing paper waste helps schools lower their carbon footprint. As a bonus, these solutions will also greatly improve operational efficiency, which we know is paramount in a busy school environment. Instead of spending time troubleshooting printer issues or searching for a print job gone rogue, staff and students can focus on meaningful and productive academic work.
Practical K-12 printing checklist for IT admins
This checklist is designed to help K-12 schools create a more efficient and cost-effective printing environment that supports both educational and administrative needs.
Print settings
- Set printers to default duplex, black-and-white printing
- Use grayscale instead of color, unless necessary
- Set ‘draft’ mode for internal documents to reduce ink and toner
Unnecessary printing
- Double-check what you’re printing and leave out unwanted pages
- Reduce text size and margins, where possible
- Collect and reuse printed materials for different classes
Printer consumables
- Negotiate bulk, long-term contracts with suppliers at discounted rates
- Use remanufactured or compatible cartridges for lower cost
- Store consumables properly to prevent drying or clogging
Maintenance
- Keep printers updated with the latest firmware and drivers
- Set up automated alerts for low toner/paper levels
- Clean and service printers regularly to avoid costly repairs
Print management software
- Track usage to identify inefficiencies and areas of high-volume printing
- Set print quotas and enforce limits on color or excessive printing
- Enable secure print release to prevent waste
User responsibility
- Give each user their own login to introduce transparency
- Educate staff and students on the benefits of reducing printing
- Put up environmentally-focused reminders near printers and copiers
Print policies
- Establish clear guidelines for acceptable print practices
- Hold staff training to ensure understanding of print policies
- Continuously review and adjust policies and quotas for ongoing cost savings
