After the 35 complimentary pages each student will receive per quarter, printing at USITE labs will cost six cents per page beginning next quarter, according to a press release from Networking Services and Information Technology (NSIT).
The press release also stated that services like color printing and dissertation bond paper will be available in the coming quarters.
“We’ve been keeping track of how much people print since sometime last year,” said Greg Jackson, vice president and chief information officer of the University. “Some people print thousands and thousands of pages, while the vast majority print a few.”
According to NSIT’s preliminary data from Winter 2003, an average of 407 pages were printed per USITE visitor. NSIT estimates that over 6 million pages will be printed in USITE labs this year, a 31 percent increase from last year. USITE’s printing budget currently covers less than half the cost of paper and toner needed for such a large printing volume.
The price was set by a committee made up of administrators and student representatives from Student Government and the Inter-House Council. The committee also selected Go Print, a company that specializes in printing needs for academic environments, to set up the pay-for-printing systems.
Jackson said that initially students will likely pay for printing using the cash stripes on their UCID cards, but eventually they will also be able to pay with cash or have the charges added to their Bursar bill.
