While many regional consortia use the collective power of members to negotiate purchasing contracts with volume discounts, it can pay to think beyond neighboring colleges when looking at this cost-saving solution.
That’s what the 19 members of the LAMP Consortium did when they joined colleges from around the country to get affordable access to Sakai, a popular open-source learning management system.
Partnership benefits: The LAMP Consortium reduces the expense associated with software hosting, maintenance, training and other services by sharing the costs with member organizations.
Link to main story: Buying strong at small colleges
Savings by the numbers: About $70,000—Annual cost of self-hosting an open-source LMS $2,500—Annual LMS charge for LAMP members (plus a fee that’s based on the number of active users)
Example: A school with 1,000 users will be charged $12,000 plus a one-time $2,000 fee to integrate the LMS with the school’s administrative system.
Total cost: $16,500 the first year
Source: Martin Ramsay, LAMP consortium director
