System and methods are provided for customizable media-based scheduling for a printing system. One embodiment is an apparatus that includes a print server. The print server is configured to receive a description of media in a printer, and to store a mapping that associates the description of media with at least one alternate description for the printer that is comparable to the description of media. The print server is also configured to receive a print job that specifies a media property that does not match the description of media in the printer. The print server is further configured to determine that the media property corresponds with the at least one alternate description for the printer based on the mapping, and to determine that the printer is eligible for scheduling the print job based on the determination that the media property corresponds with the at least one alternate description.