Gannon University has revised its printing policy for students effective this year by adding 100 more pages per semester, but anything more will result in a charge.
Once students exceed their printing quota of 600 pages, they will be charged 5 cents to print one-sided pages. To save money, students are encouraged to print both front and back. This will lower the charge to 4 cents per page to encourage students to use less paper.
Dan Giannelli, manager of academic computing at Gannon, explained how and why Gannon decided to put this policy in place.
According to a recent study involving 120 schools, most colleges do not charge students for printing, nor do they simply give out free prints; rather, they use a combination of the two. This study gave ITS the foundation for Gannon’s policy.
According to Giannelli, ITS implemented a 500-print quota policy for students in 2000 to prevent abuse of prints. ITS began to see dramatic increases in the printing budget from 2008 to 2016 and realized that it needed to update this policy.
Within the last eight years or so, student printing had dramatically increased from 485,762 printed pages to 1,811,046 printed pages per year. In addition to increasing the printing rate, the budget has jumped from an estimated $8,000 to more than $28,500 in 10 years, Giannelli said.
Approximately 10 percent of students print over the allotted 500 pages. Due to so few students going over the quota, Gannon no longer includes printing costs in their tuition under the University fee. “We felt it would be unfair to charge all students through the University fee.” Giannelli said.
Other ways that ITS has reduced costs is by buying larger toner cartridges in bulk and by changing the default printing font to save on toner, Giannelli said. By cutting costs on paper, ink and maintenance, ITS will be able to upgrade more equipment and introduce newer services.
Some of the recent upgrades include the new high-capacity printer located in Waldron’s Power Room. This printer also acts as a copier and allows students to make and print copies by swiping their ID.
These printed copies will be by swiping their ID.
These printed copies will be covered under the 600-page limit, rather than charging students each time they use the copier. In addition to printing copies, students can scan and send their copy to their email and not be charged or use a print.
One idea ITS is currently contemplating is introducing color printing. Another idea would be to implement more upgrades or purchase new equipment.
Since 2008, Gannon has purchased and installed nine new printers, bringing the total printer count to 15.
Giannelli and his staff at ITS always welcome suggestions and are open to new ideas. According to Giannelli, Gannon’s ITS department offers surveys to hear what ideas students have.
The ITS office is located on the third floor of the Palumbo Academic Center. Students should direct any concerns, questions or suggestions to Giannelli, at [email protected] or the ITS Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/gannonITS.
BRITTINY RAFFERTY
