Again I would look to others for their opinions but for PLA and ABS the 2.2 LB Rolls range from $18.00 and up. There are a ton of colors, options and that might change the pricing a little. Just because you buy a printer from one manufacturer you do not have to buy their filament. Look around on E-Bay and find a decent source and then if I were you, I could contact the companies and ask if they would give and education discount. Just my .02 Cents worth.

Keep in mind I had to build the printer I have ( my 13 year old daughter and I put it together in a 3 day weekend) there are still quite a bit of things I have done to make mine a little better, and thanks to the people on this board, I have been able to fine tune mine some, and over the next month will be tuning it in even more. I should be printing 3d floor plans for a residential builder before the snow flys with some detail, and be able to add and remove options to the floor plans, and the homes to be to scale for display in their models.