Umm my old college had Macs in the design, Art and Media department. I did media at college and used the iMacs. You may think PCS are cheaper, but in the long run they are far more expensive to maintain and keep working properly. I don't recall ever seeing an IT tech doing anything to any of the Macs and we had over 500 in the one building. It was a daily occurrence them going round fixing crashed PCS though in other parts of the college LOL. They also have to run constant updates on the PCS and make sure all anti virus stuff is working correctly.
As the head of that department at a local college, I agree 100%. Computers are like car purchases, in which I've been on both sides of the fence. Either you...
A) Get the high end model at the high end price, and you get your money's worth. (Gambling that nothing goes wrong.)
...or...
B) Get the low end model at the low end price, and end up paying the high end price in the long run, trying to keep it running like the high end model.
Here's the problem: There is so much legacy equipment in schools because of low funding, that they can't make or can't absorb high initial costs into their budgets. Again, there are two problems presented here. First, it is financially easier to make bulk purchases when you can justify the low cost. Second, it makes little financial sense to get computers that (weren't around for and) aren't compatible with many of the things that faculty and students use on campus.
Food for thought: Many of the online resources are still Windows-only. Yes, Apple is embraced by the public, but companies (book publishers, parallel institutions) are all still hesitant to make the initial plunge into the Apple ecosystem before someone else does first. Since everything in schools is so old, legacy adapters and cables are a must. Sometimes, even legacy software is still needed. A $1,099 computer (that's very nice, runs well, and built well) is still a chore when it has to merge into another ecosystem. As such, as mentioned here too, most Macs on campus are sealed off out of the ecosystem to Media, Arts and Music.
Albeit, we have never
ever had a Mac fail while in use; before the end of its useful life cycle. Worst that's happened since I've been here is a dead iSight camera on a white iMac that just got taken out of service last month. That's the very worst. (Second only to complaints that we get SuperDrives for every new Mini, making it the same size as the old Mini with a second peripheral and an extra cord.) Still, build quality can never be denied.
