Six Ways To Save Money For Your School Newspaper

Keep The Budget Healthy By Using Internet Services and Technology

Nov 26, 2008 Robert Courtemanche

High school newspapers face budget shortfalls, here are six ways they can improve their bottom line by using technology and new products to save money.

Today’s economic meltdown is causing high school journalism programs to reevaluate every aspect of their budget. Budgets have already shrunk or are going to shrink in the coming year, and many will see drastic reductions. How can a high school journalism teacher reduce costs and still create valuable journalism?

Three Things You Should Stop Doing With Your School's Newspaper

  • Don’t Print Your Newspaper: Newspapers are going online, or already have gone online. Many, like the Christian Science Monitor have already given up on the idea of a daily printed product. With advertising revenue flat or falling and costs rising, one way to cut costs is to ditch the paper and ink. Consider using the free newspaper hosting service for high school journalism programs by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
  • Don’t Buy New Software: If you’re buying new computers or just need word processing software, consider an open source solution like Open Office instead of Microsoft Office. Open Office is free and available for Macintosh, Linux and Windows.
  • Stop Wasting Paper: Printer toner or ink cartridges are expensive, so is paper. Stop wasting money every time one of your students hits print. Try an online service like Newsroom Director. This service does cost money, but it is worth it in the long run. The money saved on consumable print supplies alone is enough, but the service also provides the newspaper an online storage area for stories as well as great tracking and editing software, not to mention staff management tools.

Three Things Your High School Newspaper Should Do To Raise Money

  • Sell Your Photos: A great way to improve the newspaper’s bottom line is to increase income. Newspapers take thousands of photos of school events. Sell them to parents and students at a small cost to help fund the printed newspaper or to buy needed equipment like cameras or computers. There are many online services, such as SmugMug, that will help host the images as well as offer tools to create a storefront to sell them.
  • Create Print Products and Services: If the students are using InDesign or Quark Express to publish the current newspaper, then they have the skills needed to design printed products for others. Local restaurants might need a new menu, local organizations want a newsletter and local bands need posters to promote their shows. Publications students have the skills to create these types of printed products and much more. Create a rate card and require payment before delivering the final product.
  • Keep Computer Costs Low: Many student publications must buy their own computers. If that is the case for your publication, then consider buying the ASUS Eee PC for about $250 or the One Laptop Per Child XO laptop for $399. Both laptops use versions of Linux software and come with basic web browsers and word processors already installed. This is a great solution for publications that are online only.

With a little creativity, student newspapers can survive and even thrive in the current economy because so much of what student newspapers do can take advantage of free or low cost services on the Internet.

The copyright of the article Six Ways To Save Money For Your School Newspaper in Teacher Tips/Training is owned by Robert Courtemanche. Permission to republish Six Ways To Save Money For Your School Newspaper in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
What do you think about this article?
NOTE: Because you are not a Suite101 member, your comment will be moderated before it is viewable.
post your comment
What is 2+9?

Comments

Jan 9, 2009 8:44 PM
Guest :
Be sure to check out www.schoolnewspapersonline.com. They offer high-quality Web sites are very affordable prices for schools.
Jan 26, 2009 6:37 AM
Guest :
schoolnewspapersonline.com is a scam. Schools can get a lot more for less just by installing WordPress themselves.
2 Comments