It's a one-time fee to enroll the device in their MDM service, not an ongoing charge.
Re:Google Classroom
by josefresco on Tuesday September 30, 2014 @10:59AM
(#8388502)
It appears you are correct, but it seems it was a change from early pricing models:
"It's a big change from the pricing model Google offered with Chrome OS in the past: The first generation of Chromebooks came with monthly fees for business and school accounts -- $28 a month per device for businesses and $20 a month for schools. With the new plan, organizations pay only the single flat fee for the lifetime of each device. "
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2471845/cloud-computing...
Another item to take note of is Google's EOL policy for Chromebooks[1]. Assuming the institution depreciates it's assets on a 5-year period, this compares well with, say, a Windows PC/laptop - at the end of the period, the device would have minimal value (as it would no longer get updates). Add in the management fee, and you might favorably offset the cost of having your own WSUS and administrator.
in windows world you pay for the servers, exchange, cals for both and on top whatever price for office we haven't even got to hardware yet Chromebooks are cheap.
Does Apple or other vendors charge a similar "management fee" to this? Unless I'm missing something, the fees will surpass the per-unit pricing before the first year.