TCO can vary among companies, and different consultants use different formulas to calculate it. School districts, of course, are different from businesses and make their budgeting decisions based on very different factors. After a school district makes an investment in hardware, the major components of Total Cost of Ownership are professional development, software, support, and the cost of replacing computers and peripherals after a few years of use. Retrofitting older buildings for technology installations is another cost that is often overlooked or under-budgeted. And the cost of connectivity, which is not necessarily included when businesses calculate their TCO, is important for schools.
Schools purchase less-expensive PCs at larger discounts than businesses do.
Educational software packages are priced lower than business software applications. Schools typically use their computers for at least five years, compared to only three years for businesses. Schools use roughly half the number of people that businesses do to support the same number of PCs. In the business world, for example, when a computer breaks down or a network crashes, employees might become totally unproductive until the problems are fixed. The Denver Public Schools, in late 1997, developed a TCO projection as part of a five-year tech plan and a comparison of the costs of leasing computers versus purchasing them.