2008 Woodie Awards
ITS instates color printing charge
James Beltran
Issue date: 12/3/08 Section: News
Students, faculty, and staff will now be charged to print large quantities of documents from color printers.
According to Raymond Phillips, Director of Information Technology Services (ITS), students receive an annual subsidy of 50 color prints without charge. After the first 50 prints, the balance on students' ColbyCards are deducted at the rate of $0.20/print. Subsidies are applied at the beginning of each academic year, and students are informed how much of their subsidy remains each time they print in color.
While this charge is new, the plan to charge everyone for color printing has been in consideration for some time. "Department budget managers were fully informed of the color printing charge process. A year ago they were informed that this charge would be implemented this year and it was suggested that they plan their budgets accordingly," Phillips said. "The fact that we would be charging for this has been included in the computer purchasing advice sent to first year students for the past several years." Other schools charge their student for printing documents even in black and white. The cost for printing black and white reaches $100,000 annually at Colby, Phillips said.
The revenue from charging people for color printing will go directly to defraying the costs that ITS shoulders for purchasing, maintaining and supplying items related to printing. "The only way to limit [printing] is to charge for it," Phillips said. At the same time, Phillips recognizes that there will be classes where students are required to print documents in color. To address this concern, ITS will work with faculty to print color documents from specific printers. The costs would then be charged to the appropriate department rather than individual students.
For the time being, students need not worry about incurring costs for printing in black and white. "The only serious suggestion that we charge for black and white printing has come from students who are concerned about paper wasting" Phillips said. "While I am considering this, I have no definite plans to implement it this year or next year. Environmental and budget concerns, however, may accelerate this, but it will depend on the experience in charging for color printing."
If students are eventually charged for printing black and white documents, ITS will provide another subsidy for this purpose.
According to Raymond Phillips, Director of Information Technology Services (ITS), students receive an annual subsidy of 50 color prints without charge. After the first 50 prints, the balance on students' ColbyCards are deducted at the rate of $0.20/print. Subsidies are applied at the beginning of each academic year, and students are informed how much of their subsidy remains each time they print in color.
While this charge is new, the plan to charge everyone for color printing has been in consideration for some time. "Department budget managers were fully informed of the color printing charge process. A year ago they were informed that this charge would be implemented this year and it was suggested that they plan their budgets accordingly," Phillips said. "The fact that we would be charging for this has been included in the computer purchasing advice sent to first year students for the past several years." Other schools charge their student for printing documents even in black and white. The cost for printing black and white reaches $100,000 annually at Colby, Phillips said.
The revenue from charging people for color printing will go directly to defraying the costs that ITS shoulders for purchasing, maintaining and supplying items related to printing. "The only way to limit [printing] is to charge for it," Phillips said. At the same time, Phillips recognizes that there will be classes where students are required to print documents in color. To address this concern, ITS will work with faculty to print color documents from specific printers. The costs would then be charged to the appropriate department rather than individual students.
For the time being, students need not worry about incurring costs for printing in black and white. "The only serious suggestion that we charge for black and white printing has come from students who are concerned about paper wasting" Phillips said. "While I am considering this, I have no definite plans to implement it this year or next year. Environmental and budget concerns, however, may accelerate this, but it will depend on the experience in charging for color printing."
If students are eventually charged for printing black and white documents, ITS will provide another subsidy for this purpose.
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