Well if he gets a raspberry pi for it then when the project is over and he scraps it he has a pi left over
You can re-use any of it really though, even if it is a generic board. There are some things where a Pi might be better, but usually for fetching a mail server type stuff.
I had a great idea, a knife holder with a sharpener inside, pretty easy to make too, however I obviously can't bring a knife to school, so that idea is out the window...