SmartPrint allotment insufficient

By Kris Stolebarger

Implementing the SmartPrint system into campus computer labs has cut back waste, but has upset students who feel as though they should be able to print for free.

The trial period for SmartPrint has passed and students must now pay 8 cents per page to print. Although the Information Technology Department (IT) has allotted 200 free pages to each student, many students exhausted their funds one month into the quarter.

Junior Cindy Hirsch believes the whole system should be reevaluated because after only one week she used up the $16 allotted to her.

"All of my professors place readings on E-Res, so I've already had to spend a lot of my own money to print," she said.

Many students sympathize with Hirsch because their professors post daily reading assignments on E-Res and often require that students bring copies to class.

Communication professor Laura Ellingson says she's saving students' money by placing reading assignments on E-Res. Her students do not have to buy textbooks for her class and are able to avoid paying copyright fees because of their ability to access readings on-line.

Still, paying to print is a hard transition for students used to having free access to printers and paper on campus.

Carl Fussell, director of technology and communication, says IT has no intention of cheating students. After evaluating the printing habits of students at schools already using SmartPrint technology, IT officials determined that the average student prints only 100 pages per quarter.

Fussell realizes some students may print far more than this each quarter, but he says complaints should be directed to individual departments, not to IT.

Junior Dan Merritts is disappointed that students must pay for printouts that last year would have been provided to students by the administration.

"Before, you had departments printing out their individual handouts for every class, but now the responsibility has been shifted to the students to print them out on campus through SmartPrint," Merritts said.

Fussell says that it has become too difficult in these financial times to support the printing of whole books and articles placed on E-Res.

Unfortunately, it's this kind of printing that is often required of students.

The actual cost per page of printing, printer maintenance, toner, and the printers themselves is 5 cents. However, the school set the cost at 8 cents per page to mirror that of the copy machines.

Fussell says as soon as the school finds it is making a profit, it will reimburse the students accordingly.

"Our goal in all of this has been to control waste, to control misuse of the printing resources and to not make a profit at all," Fussell said.

Merritts believes that paying eight cents per page is exorbitant. Students should not have to pay for printer maintenance or for new printers. A portion of our tuition already goes towards having access to well-kept printing technology. Merritts says if students are going to be charged at all, they should be charged for the paper alone.

Technological difficulties have also caused concern among some students.

Freshman Josh Sbicca has given up on SmartPrint because some of his printouts didn't come out clearly. Although he had the option to request a refund from IT, he just didn't have the time or the patience to do so.

The school will continue to evaluate the newly implemented system and make changes accordingly. IT says they are open to any suggestions students may have.