How do schools afford Microsoft 365 a3?

[mavhc]

Office,Windows 11, Intune, defender, conditional access and security products plus more for ~60 a year. I think that’s pretty good value.

 

How much is a mdm + windows + office + Av ?

 

You want me to pay for Office, that now requires me to login all the time, wasting my time. (but if you pay more for conditional access you can make it not terrible again? interesting)

And Windows? Pretty sure I paid for that when I bought the computer.

Already got GPO which is still better than Intune 10 years later. (And you made me pay for fake software (CALs) to use it)

Defender is free with Windows, and anyway, why should I pay to get rid of software that's exploiting bugs in the other programs you just sold me?

[psydii]

Already got GPO which is still better than Intune 10 years later. (And you made me pay for fake software (CALs) to use it)

 

These two points *really* get my goat every time I think about it. Luckily being over-worked and understaffed I don't have time to ruminate on it often. And before I start now, I'm off to play Baldur's Gate which cost 2x my allocated A5 licence, and yet I only use a few hours a week.

[dmj]

It's not an additional cost really. Doing M365 A3 is just a replacement for the old OVS licensing for Office packs/CALs etc unless ofc the school isn't paying for licenses! - Obviously I'm not saying its the same pricing, depending on your staff/computer layout etc, but it's not something brand new that a school shouldn't have money assigned for. For example the last 3 schools I've worked at all saved money going to A3 over individual licensing via OVS+CSP

 

Steve

It really is an additional cost if you just upgraded the perpetual Windows/Office/server licenses every six years which is what I did. At the time the cost of all the perpetual licenses over 6 years was far, far cheaper than subscriptions every year, let alone adding any Ax licensing. It's also a lot easier to get out of the agreement because the products are still licensed until you stop using them. I guess Microsoft knows this. Anyway, since then the school has moved almost entirely to Chromebooks making the windows licensing even less attractive. And it's not my problem anymore as the company I work for doesn't use MS at all.

[Tom_P]

Wow do you have 400 staff then?

Not far of it. 357 to be exact, which is expected to grow next September. But from reading some posts it seems ive been over quoted. I've contacted a few more suppliers who can hopefully bring the cost down.

[johnlevis]

Thanks for the recommendation @Boredguy

@Tom_P Happy to run through options with you, just give me a shout

 

John

[Rob_D]

Not something I'm really clued up on, so i could be way off here, but do they not just need to licence the users that need it, with each Staff licence also allowing 40 'Student licences'? So how would MS distinguish the diference in the user?

You might have 10 staff that actually need the extra 'Staff bit of the licence' (what ever that is) whilst the rest could just use the 'Student' licence?

Or am I way off?

It depends. If you're using SDS (or your solution works the same way), then the staff/student licensing is used to determine who can own "class teams". IE you can't set up someone with a student license as teacher in Teams.

[2097]

Ours is currently 47.75 per Staff member ( for the year )

Kids are all free

 

This is a Campus 3 agreeement , i believe thats good value for money considering all the storage thats offloaded from the servers etc.

[RichFix]

I guess it depends whether your utilising all the features with that license which justifies the cost.

 

For example, it can be used to license all client windows machines and to be used for Azure/Entra authentication where users have to login with a 365 account and the devices are managed using InTune.

 

 

Also it can take away existing costs - for example if you have iPads/ Android tablets, these can be enrolled in InTune without having to pay for a separate MDM.

[Tefters]

I scrimp and save here as much as possible and did a whole exercise on MS licensing to get ours trimmed down to just teaching staff and admins, £45 per user.

 

Than I found out how much the NSPCC training costs per user per year and stopped caring as much. Let's just say that 30 minute common sense course is just as much and you don't hear the schools grumbling over that!

 

Also if you want ammunition for reasoning then point them in the direction of security, MFA and threat alerts. Look at the amount of schools hacked due to compromised accounts or even the NHS at the moment with the Russian Ransomeware.

 

Schools need to wake up and start punting the money + forcing in stricter IT security members. Long gone are the days of "we just use the internet for research".

Edited June 23, 2024 by Tefters

[RichFix]

I scrimp and save here as much as possible and did a whole exercise on MS licensing to get ours trimmed down to just teaching staff and admins, £45 per user.

 

Than I found out how much the NSPCC training costs per user per year and stopped caring as much. Let's just say that 30 minute common sense course is just as much and you don't hear the schools grumbling over that!

 

Also if you want ammunition for reasoning then point them in the direction of security, MFA and threat alerts. Look at the amount of schools hacked due to compromised accounts or even the NHS at the moment with the Russian Ransomeware.

 

Schools need to wake up and start punting the money + forcing in stricter IT security members. Long gone are the days of "we just use the internet for research".

 

I completely agree!

[Driftingashore]

I stuck with cheap and cheerful 365 licensing for years, then after a series of leadership changes at the school I watched consecutive heads burn money on projects that were immediately scrapped by the next head, and wondered why I was bothering when any fallout from my choices were going to land solely on me. I'd rather be moaned at for trying to spend too much money than have leadership blame me when something goes wrong because I tried to save money. Now all staff and governors have either A5 or A3+A5 Sec. The increase in licensing costs were significant, but I don't really care.. given the state of affairs here, nobody even noticed the increase.

[DavonPotter]

It often boils down to budgeting priorities and funding allocations. Some schools receive educational discounts or funding support from government programs or grants specifically for educational technology. Sometimes, schools prioritize these tools despite the cost because of the comprehensive features and benefits they provide for both students and staff. It might be worth exploring if there are any specific educational discounts or funding opportunities your trust could leverage to make M365 A3 more affordable.

[TwistedHelixis]

How much is a mdm + windows + office + Av

 

All of those are free if you use a Chromebook

 

EDIT, sorry I forgot the £28 lifetime license, stupid me, lol

Edited June 30, 2024 by TwistedHelixis

[CrootUK]

All of those are free if you use a Chromebook

 

EDIT, sorry I forgot the £28 lifetime license, stupid me, lol

 

Yuck lol!

[davinderkundi]

Schools could check out Microsoft's discounts for A3 or A5 licenses to save some cash. Another idea is sharing licenses with bigger institutions to cut costs.

 

Also, saas subscription management could help with spending and budgeting, which could help schools save on subscriptions and make smarter choices.

Edited October 21, 2024 by davinderkundi