Nearly 1.86 million pages were printed in the computer labs across campus last semester, according to a global email sent out by the University of Tampa.
When the administration found out how many pages had been printed, they felt that it was time to make a change.
This semester marks the start of UT’s Print Sustainability Program. A global email was sent to all students on Monday explaining exactly what the program is about.
Each student has automatically been given a printing account with a $30 balance for the semester.
Each page printed in color costs $0.50 and each black and white page cost $0.10, whether there’s printing on one side or both.
If students use up the $30 credit, they may purchase more pages through SpartanWeb.
“I really hope that this Print Sustainability Program that we’ve implemented will create more awareness and help the student body become greener,” said Computer Lab Coordinator Jennifer Jamison.
UT has been working more and more to try to make the campus more environmentally friendly, so this program is supposed to add to that effort, according to Jamison.
However, there are many students who are not excited about the program.
“It’s my first day of classes and I already had to use a dollar to print out one syllabus,” said senior, Tyler LoPilato.
With the $30 credit they receive, students will be able to print 300-600 black and white pages, without having to add money to their printing account.
The average student prints around 350 pages per semester, so most students would stay within the $30 balance and not end up having to spend any of their money.
Students in some majors will be affected by this change more than others.
For majors such as nursing, government and world affairs, marketing and advertising and public relations, students often have to print out several pages at one time.
“I’m an advertising and public relations major, so for me, I have to print out research for projects on a regular basis,” said senior, Sam George. “I don’t want printing to be another expense I have to worry about.”
If teachers allow their students to post more assignments online rather than printing them, they would not only be saving their students money, but also assisting the program in helping with the university’s environmental efforts.
“I’m a government and world affairs major and I have teachers that make me print 25 pages at once sometimes, so I hope they start posting more stuff on blackboard this year,” said senior Dave Tulloch.
Jamison explained that the Print Sustainability Program was not implemented to make the school more money, but to make the students aware of how much they are printing.
Cara Fetzer can be reached at cmfetzer@spartans.ut.edu.
I am not one to trumpet the great expenditures of UT’s administration. I think they are excessive on campus beautification as well. I think it is a somewhat hollow gesture, but the bottom line is that the only way to have an effect upon someone’s behavior is to penalize them economically. This will have a net positive effect.
Honestly, the school has given everyone a 30 dollar credit, which 300 pages should be plenty for everyone per a semester. 300 pages times 6,000 students is still a lot of frickin’ paper. Really, the school could have given no paper allowance, and just started charging everyone up front. I see this as a reasonable compromise as long as they keep the 30 dollar paper charge.
Personally, I would like to see it be a huge inconvenience to recharge your account too. Like you should have to mail off a payment and wait 3-6 weeks for it to process, and if you print over 300 pages it goes to 40 cents a page. Too many people don’t pay enough attention to their resource expenditures. Reducing is far more effective than recycling.
I would also like to see some positive subsidies for people who don’t use as much such as rebates etc. They should also follow this up with subsidies for professors who accept digital submissions. There is a lot of things you can do to improve the resource usage at UT.
bullcrap it’s not a way for UT to make more money…I’m a bio major and I agree with going green, but this seems fishy that the faculty seems almost unaware of this change in policy. Next UT will be charging us every time we want to get a drink of water! How many times did I see UT spend money frivously on stupid, more environmentally wasteful things? Like still having paper towels in bathrooms instead of hand dryers, or even power washing sidewalks (it’s called rain, President Vaugh, by the way). Now if they wanted to use that money they’re making to give more in Financial Aid to students who REALLY need it, then I would’t complain…;p
For Jason C: You do have some valid points. You are right on the fact that people should be considerate and use common sense about printing as well as energy consumption in the dorms. However, there are many ways that the school can go green and help save the school money. About two years ago, I was in Student Government and we offered a variety of green solutions about recycling, energy consumption, etc. over a number of drafts and proposals to UT and they were all rejected until they finally gave into giving us students the recycling drop off bin over by Rescom.
I agree with the comments from Karin Stoll. I may also like to add that most of the professors that I have this semester weren’t even aware or told of this Print Sustainability Program. It was news to them on the first day of class! I think that it is unfortunate and inconsiderate that the individuals who initiated this program failed to notify professors well in advance so that they can plan or adjust assignments, lectures, etc. And since this is on the subject of being green, the floors in the dorm buildings still do not have recycling bins. Yet, they are telling us this Printing Program is not another way for the university to make money. It seems to me that the only green that this school is interested in is in money.
Honestly, I am no fan extra student fees, but this one is justified.
I remember waiting in the computer lab for at least 20 minutes waiting for my paper to print up because several students had decided to print over 100+ pages of powerpoint slides.
First off, you don’t need to print 1 page per a slide. There are people who do this and I just want to take their huge stack of 100+ pages and smack them with it like you would a dog that just peed on the floor.
Second, YOU DO NOT NEED TO PRINT POWER POINT SLIDES. Teachers generally do provide them in digital form on blackboard. You can access them at any time without having to print them up. They will not disappear. Notes do not have to be taken on printed out powerpoints. Last I checked, you can write on loose leaf paper and pick up 70 pages at target for about a buck which should last you an entire semester for one class.
The only thing that should be printed is reports that you intend to submit. There is no chance that any student will exceed 600 pages in submitted reports. If you want the luxury printing endless amounts of paper, pay up. It is not a god given right.
As for your daughter being required to print that professor’s 700 pages of garbage, I suggest she drop that class and take it from a sane teacher. Somehow I highly doubt the professor grades her powerpoint slides that she brings to class. I’m sure it is a suggestion. Perhaps you should get an iPad.
The next thing the University should tackle in regard to needless waste is students who keep their thermostats at 55 year round. It’s just ridiculous. Consumption taxes are justified in these instances.
Last year the Minaret reported on the President of UT’s salary. He’s making over $500,000! Why don’t we cut that a bit and put it towards something that’s usefull. I don’t think people are just printing 700 pges of random stuff, mostly everything I see printed is for class, as Karin said, all the powerpoint slides and so on. This school can go green and save money other ways.
I am the parent of a student that forwarded this article to me after explaining the program to me. This program is contra-intuitive if the professors are requiring the students to print out lectures, assignments and syllabi, so to state that this is a “green” program does not fly with me. If the university is serious about making this a conservation initiative then the professor’s need to be on board. You cannot penalize the students for decisions made by the staff/professors that are outside of their control. My daughter calculated how many pages she is required to print for ONE class and it is 700 pages. I would suggest this program be rethought or bring the professors on board.