Jonathan Ramos/Asst. News Director
Beginning Nov. 14, the Wolfe University Center will cut the amount of free printing allowed at the computer lab from 30 pages to five. The policy was officially announced on Nov. 4, to give students a week of notice.
The resolution, which came about through a cooperative agreement between WUC Senior Director Greg Olson and the Student Government Council at Biscayne Bay Campus, was made for environmental and financial reasons. Olson was not available for comment at press time.
“I expect students to not be excited about it, but I believe students will adjust and see that it is a better use of their fee’s and it is better for the environment,” IT and marketing coordinator Zach Trautenberg said.
According to Trautenberg, SGC-BBC sets aside $2000 to cover the cost of printing on a yearly basis, but the printing lab was costing WUC between $3000 and $5000 a month. In addition, the computer lab had over 7,000 log-ins in October alone. WUC was able to pay for the excess in costs mostly because of the revenue they create by renting rooms and space in the building.
The computer lab will not limit the amount of pages students can print overall. Student’s can only print five pages for free, but have an unlimited amount available after that, available at eight cents per page plus tax.
“There was a serious waste going on,” SGC-BBC Senator-at-Large Oluwatamilore Odimayo said. “And nobody was swiping their card before to get in, so people were just coming in and printing out whatever they want.”
The computer lab will institute a policy to enforce the new system, by making students swipe their Panther ID’s with the computer lab managers inputting the amount of pages they have printed daily. A similar rule was in place before, but was not always enforced.
SGC-BBC Senator-At-Large Oluwatobi Adekoya believes the cutback is a fair one.
“Five pages is still very reasonable. If I’m getting more than five pages, I can just pay with my Panther ID,” he said. “This will encourage student’s to be more efficient.”
Freshman Juan Escobar thinks some will be shocked by the news initially.
“If we’re paying this much in tuition, I think it should be at least 30 pages allowed [to print],” Escobar said. “But if you have to cut it, at least do it in increments and have a balance.”
Trautenberg encourages students to inform staff of any need that may arise for students.
“We always want to hear from students about what we can offer besides free printing,” Trautenberg said of the lab, which already has added software to assist students with disabilities. “We’re always looking to expand with new technologies and software.”
“We’re still the only lab in the University that offers free printing, and a few year’s ago we didn’t offer it, so we’re not going back to that.”
About Post Author
