Digital Printing for Colleges and Universities

If you work at or represent a college or university, you probably have a significant annual budget for your marketing and communications spending needs. Each year, schools across the country spend millions of dollars on printing out a wide range of products that are sent out to their faculty, students, potential students, and alumni. However, as the times change, so too do the specific needs for printing for colleges and universities. Many printing companies that once only offered offset printing for schools now have transitioned to exclusively offering digital printing services for schools.

Today, let’s explore the reasons why digital printing has taken over as the print service of choice for schools nationwide and how the future might look for this ever-changing industry.

Specific Print Requirements for Colleges and Universities

These days, schools take full advantage of the Internet when it comes to their marketing and educational offerings. The majority of schools create both digital and print versions of their textbooks, brochures, catalogs, posters, and mailers. This means they need to partner with commercial printing companies that are fully compatible with their digital needs.

As a result, many schools have chosen to move entirely away from offset printing. The main reason behind this is that schools want short-run, personalized printing with quick turnarounds – not the massive quantities and slow production time typical of an offset printing project.

Other Benefits of Digital Printing for Colleges

1. Digital printing allows for each page to include a totally different image and can even create different versions of the same document during the print run. This level of flexibility is simply impossible in offset printing and creates an immense incentive for colleges and universities that target a diverse range of students, faculty, and alumni.
2. Saves money. Offset printing may be perfect for your school’s needs if you are printing a truly large quantity of a specific project. But if you are looking to print smaller quantities (just enough for your student body or for your faculty), digital printing can save a tremendous amount with a rapid turnaround time to meet your beginning-of-year deadline.
3. Tons of options. While offset printing can do mostly everything digital printing can with enough time and money, digital printing can simply turn on a dime and change up the whole project in a flash. Some of the many potential possible projects include:
   • Applications
   • Personalized letters
   • Diplomas/Degrees
   • School signage
   • Newsletters, school newspapers, and student-run publications
   • Direct mailers for recruitment
   • Brochures
   • Admission folders
   • Postcards
   • School sports information
   • Directories
   • Course lists
   • Special event posters
   • Business cards and stationery

Choosing the Right Printing Company

At Linemark, there are few projects more satisfying to print than those that come from colleges and universities. We love knowing that our craftsmanship will end up with the next generation of leaders and thinkers. That’s why we proudly offer high-quality custom printing services for schools around the country.

If you want to learn more about our printing services for your college or university, contact a member of the Linemark team today.