University students will be able to print 100 black-and-white sheets from school printers without charge beginning next spring.
The initiative, proposed as part of Student Government President Cassie Alsfeld’s campaign platform in spring 2007, will be financed by the Student Technology Fee.
The fee costs students $5 per credit hour and is capped at a maximum of $75. The fee is assessed to all students — graduate and undergraduate, full-time and part-time.
The printing quota is not based off a set number of sheets but rather deductions from a $5 credit allocated to each student’s Tiger Card. University printers will deduct money from this credit before reducing a student’s TigerCASH.
In Middleton Library, it currently costs 5 cents to print one black-and-white sheet; hence the $5 credit translates into 100 black-and-white sheets. One color sheet would deduct 25 cents from the $5 quota for a total of 20 color sheets. Larger-format sheets can cost up to $2.
The tech fee not only supports initiatives like the printing quota, but also projects for static University programs like the Centers for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and Information Technology Services. CELT and ITS provide services to students such as computer-based testing and TigerWare, respectively. The fee also supports public access computer labs across campus and multimedia equipment in general classrooms.
Money generated through the fee is allocated by the Student Technology Fee Oversight Committee, a body of six students, three administrators and one faculty member. The committee, which saw the SG executive branch proposal and a Student Senate resolution supporting it, approved the printing quota Tuesday. All six student members voted for it, and all four administrators and faculty members voted against it.
“The administration was highly against this because they usually use the funds to supplement ITS and CELT,” said SG Vice President Josh King, a member of the committee and author of the free printing quota proposal.
Neal Stoltzfus, mathematics professor who serves as the faculty member of the committee, said he voted against the proposal because in the future it will face competition from other, more important tech fee funded programs, such as the computer labs and classroom multimedia equipment.
“It was a use of one-time moneys for a program that is long-term,” Stoltzfus said. “In my mind, one should have long-term sources of revenue for programs that are going to be long-term.”
Funds for the printing quota resulted from budget overages. This past year, the tech fee generated about $3.8 million, all of which was allocated to specific projects. Because some costs were overestimated, approximately $377,000 was returned to the committee for distribution.
King’s initial proposal aimed to provide 200 free sheets to every student, covering the printing habits of 90 percent of University students and costing about $262,000.
Because other projects funded by the tech fee sought additional funds, the printing quota was cut to 100 sheets per student each semester, including the fall, spring and summer semesters. Students taking courses during intercession will have a 50-sheet quota. King said the 100-sheet quota would cover the printing habits of about 65 percent of students.
The initiative will cost about $131,000.
“The Student Technology Fee is $75,” said Colorado Robertson, Speaker of the Student Senate and a student member of the Technology Fee Oversight Committee. “This takes $5 from that and effectively puts it back into the students’ pockets for printing.”
The allocated $131,000 will fund the printing quota through the end of 2008. If any funds remain at that point, they will be used to continue funding the quota in the future.
Despite $377,000 in returns this past year, some tech fee funded programs face uncertain futures. The fee, which has not been raised since students approved it in spring 1998, is being forced to provide funding for fewer, more expensive programs.
King said the committee voted to remove tech fee funding of the discipline specific proposals, which provide specialized equipment to particular colleges and departments within the University.
Stoltzfus said the combination of declining enrollment and expensive programs like TigerWare are leading these other projects to be cut.
“Moneys dedicated to long-term projects has risen to the level that money is no longer available for one year projects,” Stoltzfus said.
Robertson said because of these funding shortages, there may be a senate subcommittee formed to see if increasing the tech fee is an option.
—–Contact Daniel McBride at [email protected]