By Amanda Clifford
There was a time when UP students did not have to think twice before clicking the 'print' button in the computer classrooms, labs and residence halls on campus. Paper and ink supplies were plentiful and printing fees were unheard of.
But in spring 2006, the excessive student printing on campus prompted the University to adopt a print reduction initiative, forever changing the printing habits of UP students.
With the initiative, full-time undergraduate students receive a $20 annual print credit. At the beginning of the fall and spring semesters, $10 is automatically added to each student's printing account. Laser printing costs 5 cents per page and color printing costs 15 cents per page. The print credit equates to 400 non-color pages for each student per year.
According to Sheila Smith, the computer lab coordinator in the Office of Technical Support, the print reduction initiative established a reasonable limit to control excess use and waste of materials.
"In my opinion, the initiative is most definitely beneficial, especially for the environment," Smith said. "When I came here in May 2005, the recycle bins were overflowing with paper, and there were printouts on the printers just not being picked up."
Paul Erdmann, the director of Technical Support, has noticed a substantial decrease in the number of pages printed by students per month since the start of the initiative.
Prior to spring 2006, students printed, on average, more than 350,000 pages a month, according to information provided by the Office of Technical Support. Since then, the number of pages printed by students has dropped considerably. After the first year of the initiative, students printed 136,000 pages per month and by the third year, students printed less than 98,000 pages per month.
"It's definitely working and you can see that there is a lot less paper waste sitting in the trash cans and recycle bins around campus," Erdmann said.
Although students did not have a printing allowance prior to spring 2006, every full-time undergraduate student was charged an annual $250 technology fee that covered printing materials, wireless networks, new computers and maintenance on old computers. Now, the annual technology fee is included in tuition.
"Students have always paid for printing through the technology fee, they just were not aware of it before the initiative," Smith said. "There is just a limit now on how much they can print."
Graduate students and part-time students pay a reduced technology fee and therefore do not receive an annual printing allowance. They have a zero balance and must add money to their account in order to print.
Along with adding a printing allowance for students, the University began leasing the high-volume duplex printers through Xerox in 2006 as a part of the print reduction initiative. Through the lease, the University pays a fixed amount for toner and maintenance on the printers. Paper is not included in the lease. Before the University began leasing the printers they paid for toner and maintenance on a monthly basis. According to Smith, the lease has helped the University cut down on printing costs.
While there may be fewer wasted materials overflowing from the recycle bins in the Franz 111 and library labs, many students are unhappy with their current printing allowance.
"As a student who pays a lot of money to attend this school I think it is ridiculous that I have to pay to print on campus," senior Tori Empey said. "It's frustrating when I run out of money and I'm running around 20 minutes before class trying to find a dollar so I can print off my assignment."
Fifth-year senior Tom Mock began his freshman year at UP in fall 2004 and remembers what it was like to never have to worry about what or how much he was printing.
"There was definitely excessive printing going on before we were given an allowance," Mock said. "But it's hard as an engineer because we have a lot of lab reports with data, graphs and tables, which can sometimes be up to 20 pages. I have to add money to my account every semester."
Many courses require students to print lengthy articles, lecture notes and other documents, diminishing the allowance of some students much quicker than others. When students deplete the $10 balance, money can be added to the account by using one of the "add value machines," located in either lab.
For courses that require a large amount of printing, Smith suggested that those professors send their materials to the print shop to have them printed and bound, saving both the student and the University a little money. She also mentioned that UP professors do not print for free. Rather, each department pays for the toner and paper used by the professors from that department.
"It's hard because I do see the pain of the students who are required to print a lot of materials, but it makes sense to give everyone an equal amount of money," Smith said. "I've seen the yearly print credit of many other universities, and I think $10 a semester is very reasonable and in many cases more generous than other colleges and universities."
Several students suggested that the school increase the annual printing allowance for students. Others said they would like their professors to be more mindful of the allowance and require less printed materials from students.
"I definitely think there should be a cap, but we should get more money and the price per page should be lower," Mock said. "And if you print double-sided, you should get charged less."
Students have the option to print single-sided or double-sided, but either way they are still charged 5 cents per page. Mock, along with several other students, suggested that if the school lowered the price per page for double-sided prints, students may be more inclined to choose the more sustainable option and to print double-sided.
Despite the student concern, Erdmann does not foresee any changes to the student allowance or printing fees in the near future. However, the University's lease with Xerox will end this summer, and depending on if it decides to do another lease, the printing fees may or may not increase.
"Our goal is not to make a bunch of money off of the students," Erdmann said. "We get charged per printed page, whether it's double-sided or not. And really, it's the toner that is so expensive, not the paper."
