That sounds exactly like what was used when I was working in the computer labs at Clemson as a student. It was quite eerie at 2am when 100+ machines in the lab would all reboot at once and pop up the ghost logo. Ahh the memories....
It sounds like View would be an excellent solution for your situation. You could set up the clients using something like X2 to boot and then have them go straight into the View environment using floating pools. No more reimaging machines on a nightly basis. Just have them set to refresh the machine on logout and you would always be up to date on updates.
IMO opinion, a lab environment or a call center is where View shines the brightest. You have a homogenous environment where everything is set up exactly the same and everyone has the same requirements. I also agree with the above posts. Check with your local VMware rep and they can help you out with the TCO and show you where you will be able to recognize your savings. Depending on how often you replace your lab equipment (for us it was every 2 years), you should be able to recognize an ROI in cost quite quickly and from management almost immediately.