Well the VP probably knew that 1) The company (couldn't afford | didn't want to spend) to build a new replacement system. 2) New people would be needed to main

Well the VP probably knew that 1) The company (couldn't afford | didn't want to spend) to build a new replacement system. 2) New people would be needed to maintain the existing system 3) Students don't know how much their services would be worth - so the amount might not be big enough as a regular engineer might charge.