Cost

One System; Two Cost Options

Every Schoolyard website includes the vast majority of our entire system*, with two options for the initial build: standardized design at $9,800; custom design at around $23K. Schoolyard's optional service plan is $499 per month ($399 for schools with fewer than 200 students.) There is no recurring licensing fee.

*Schoolyard's auction and school store modules are not included in Schoolyard Classic; otherwise the feature sets are identical.

On September 1, 2012, Schoolyard announced a new concept in web solutions for schools on a budget, including the same system features powering all of our sites, with the savings built into the initial build phase of the project. With an initial build fee of $9,800, clients choose from one of three pre-designed templates, and with substantial training in advance, build out the majority of their own site content prior to launch. Insofar as all Schoolyard sites are built with modern web techniques and technologies, the potential variations in graphic appearance within the three pre-designed templates are considerable, at an initial cost well below half that of a custom-designed Schoolyard site.

Fees for Schoolyard custom design and build services are computed at our standard hourly rates and are based on the time our service requires. Given that design work is a subjective process, and that development work can take more or less time to complete depending on a number of variables, we typically provide an estimated cost range rather than a fixed price. Our initial build range is $20,000-$25,000, and the average cost of a custom design / build Schoolyard site is $23,000.

Service Plan

The cost of Schoolyard’s optional monthly service is $499, or $399 for schools with an enrollment of fewer than 200 students. Included in the plan are the following benefits:

New features

At Schoolyard we consider the evolving needs of schools in growing our system. Most recent additions to our system include an auction module, secure group portals, and responsive design for mobile. Schools on our service plan receive new features as part of the plan; we do not "upsell" new features to our existing clients. There is usually a manageable one-time cost to implement new features as such implementation takes time (the auction module, for example is a 3-4 hour installation process.)

Module Upgrades

Our system currently includes over 100 Drupal modules. Like any CMS, Drupal is in a constant state of development. Typically between 5 and 10 of these modules are upgraded every month, and as we are alerted of these upgrades, we implement them across our system for service plan clients.

Security patch installs

Similar to module upgrades, security patches are created by Drupal developers. As Schoolyard is alerted of the availability of a new patch, we download and install the patch across our system for service plan clients.

Hosting

Schoolyard sites are hosted at Linode at multiple locations on the US east coast, west coast, Hong Kong, and London. Our monthly service plan includes all server hosting and server maintenance services with a server capacity of 4 GB. For schools requiring more server space we recommend a dedicated virtual server at an additional cost of $40/month.

One hour of one-to-one support

Schoolyard’s service plan includes one hour of one-to-one support each month. (15 hours for the first 2 months following launch, 2 hours in months 3-6; monthly support hours do not accrue).

Additional services

Campus visit One of the ways in which we reduce cost is to keep travel at a minimum. During the design phase of a project, should you request a visit to campus, our daily rate plus economy travel expenses is well below the industry standard: $1,250/day plus reasonable expenses. 

Technical support One hour included in monthly service fee (non-accruing.) Additional support available at rates of $150/hr in blocks of 5 hours; $185/hr for single-hour increments. 

Schoolyard Custom Services For schools seeking custom module development, database integration solutions, or comprehensive project management consultation services, we will provide individual estimates on a case by case basis at a rate of $185/hr.

Dedicated 20GB server for schools requiring more than 4GB of server space for the support of substantial media files, we can provide dedicated virtual server space of up to 20GB for an additional monthly fee of $40.