5 Ways Print Management Can Save Your School Money

Budget pressures, underfunding, and rising costs are constant challenges for UK schools. Despite recent government pledges, real-terms funding per pupil in England is still around 4% lower than in 2010 once inflation is taken into account (Annual report on education spending in England: 2024–25). The Education Policy Institute estimates that schools have faced cost increases of nearly 20% between 2019 and 2025, significantly outpacing funding growth (EPI, 2024).

With budgets stretched further each year, schools, universities, academies, and multi-academy trusts (MATs) are looking for ways to reduce operational costs without affecting teaching quality. One simple, effective way to achieve this is by switching to serverless printing with modern print management software.

This approach streamlines printing, strengthens security, and enables leaders to make informed decisions about where to cut waste, thereby freeing up valuable funds to reinvest in pupils and learning. Continue reading for five ways modern print management software can save educational institutions money.

Print servers can be a significant and unnecessary expense. A single print server can cost £1,500–£4,000 to purchase and install, not to mention the ongoing IT maintenance and energy costs associated with it. They are also vulnerable to cyber threats and represent a single point of failure; if one server crashes, it affects everyone.

A simple print audit or print services assessment provides schools with visibility into their current costs, highlighting opportunities to consolidate devices and eliminate inefficiencies.

By moving to a serverless print environment, schools can:

• Eliminate hardware and maintenance costs

• Reduce their attack surface and improve print security

• Prevent downtime and bottlenecks

The result is a leaner, more reliable system that saves money and improves efficiency.

Without controls in place, printing can quickly spiral out of control. The average UK office worker prints 6,000–10,000 pages per year, much of which is unnecessary (Technology in schools survey report).

With print quota management, schools can set sensible usage limits per user or department, restrict expensive print modes such as colour or single-sided printing, and encourage more mindful use of printing resources.

Implementing print quotas helps to:

• Encourage staff to think before printing

• Reduce unnecessary print volumes

• Support sustainability and cost-saving goals

These measures align perfectly with the Department for Education’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, which calls on schools to reduce waste and adopt greener operations (DfE, 2022).

Unclaimed print jobs are not only wasteful, but they also pose a potential data breach. Studies show that around 30% of printed documents are never collected, while paper waste accounts for up to 70% of office waste (Quocirca Print Security Landscape).

Secure release printing ensures documents are only printed when the authorised user or someone they’ve delegated the job to authenticates at the device, for example, by tapping a staff ID card or entering a PIN code.

With secure print features, you can:

• Prevent sensitive information from being left unattended

• Reduce waste and consumables use

• Help schools meet UK GDPR data protection requirements

Print management solutions integrate seamlessly with secure release, providing schools with better oversight and control over who prints what and when.

In the UK education sector, implementing smart print management, such as quota controls, secure release printing, and cost analytics, can significantly reduce unnecessary printing. When staff are prompted to authenticate before releasing a print job, they often reconsider whether it's essential. This behavioural shift leads to fewer print jobs, lower paper consumption, and reduced wear on devices.

Schools in the UK are under increasing pressure to reduce operational costs, particularly in areas such as printing and paper usage, while also minimising their environmental impact. This aligns with the Department for Education’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, which requires all education settings in England to appoint a sustainability lead and develop a climate action plan by 2025.

Using cost analytics, administrators can:

• Track usage trends in real time

• Order supplies based on actual need

• Avoid emergency or over-ordering

These changes lead to significant long-term savings, funds that can be redirected towards classroom technology, SEND support, or pupil wellbeing initiatives.

IT support remains a significant cost centre for UK schools, particularly as digital infrastructure continues to expand. According to ServiceNow, printer-related issues can account for up to 50% of IT helpdesk tickets in organisations globally, a trend echoed in UK schools where legacy print servers and fragmented printing systems often lead to frequent troubleshooting and downtime.

Traditional print servers limit visibility into usage patterns, making it difficult for IT staff to manage costs or identify inefficiencies proactively. Without centralised oversight, schools face recurring issues like driver conflicts, stalled queues, and excessive print volumes, all of which drain time and resources.

Serverless print management removes that barrier, offering:

• A single dashboard for all print devices

• Automated updates and driver management

• Fewer tickets and less time spent troubleshooting

That means less time fixing printers and more time supporting teaching and learning priorities.

Print servers are not only expensive, inefficient, and outdated but also consume funds that could be better spent on education. For schools, academies, universities, and trusts looking for practical, measurable savings, serverless printing is a proven first step.

A simple action plan, such as auditing your current setup, optimising workflows, consolidating devices, and implementing secure print policies, can deliver tangible results within months.

Modern print management software helps UK schools:

• Reduce print and IT costs

• Improve visibility and control

• Strengthen compliance and security

• Support sustainability targets

If your school, academy, university, or trust is ready to reduce costs and modernise printing, book a demo and speak to Vasion’s UK education team today. We’ll help you assess your current environment, set up secure serverless printing, and track your savings through precise analytics, so you can focus on what matters most: teaching and learning.