Frequently asked questions

Frequently Asked Questions Why charge for printing?
· The volume of printing in the student computing center has consistently risen for the past nine years, causing related costs to surge. Continuing to support free printing is cost prohibitive, and charging based on excessive usage is a fair method to charge only those who are using the service to excess.
· Other methods that attempt to reduce the volume of printing, such as posting displays that encourage conservation and limiting the number of pages printed at a time, have had little effect.
· Students have requested that recycled paper be used. Recycled paper costs 60% more than standard paper.
· Experience at other universities suggests that charging for printing reduces the volume of printing by as much as 40%, reducing the environmental impact.


Shouldn't I be able to print for free from E-Res?
· Before E-Res, costs for physical copies of reserve materials were paid by students who decided to make photocopies. Because so many faculty and students are using the E-Res system, the cost of copies of required readings has been transferred from the individual student to the College. We can no longer afford to provide unlimited free printing, and are thus obliged to charge for printing.

Doesn't my tuition pay for printing?
· There is a technology fee in your tuition. This fee helps cover the cost of outfitting classrooms and computer labs with computers and other technology – such as teacher’s stations and projectors – as well as the maintenance of this equipment. Using this money to pay for printing would mean taking funding away from other classroom resources.

Doesn't my library fee pay for printing?
· While the computer lab is located within the library, the lab is a part of the student computing department of Information Technology. As such, the library fee is not applied toward the operation of the computer lab.

How much does Information Technology charge for printing?
· The first 300 pages per term and Maymester/summer are free. The fee is 5 cents per page after this free allocation is used.

Why 300 free prints? Why not 500 or 1000?
· The number of free prints was based on the number of members in the student body. That is, 300 free copies X 10,000 students (our student body is actually larger than this) = 9 million free copies. This is actually 3,000,000 more than were printed last year.
· The charge-for-print system will be assessed and evaluated during the first year, and, based on that assessment, the policy may be adjusted.

Why is it 10 cents per page to make a photocopy when it’s only 5 cents per page for a printout?
· The photocopiers are leased machines. The extra money pays for the service, supplies and replacement equipment, as outlined in the maintenance agreement.

Are these prices fair?
· These prices offset some but not all of the cost of printing. Excluded costs include printers, other equipment and service. The prices are comparable if not lower than those charged by most other university libraries and other local businesses.

What are other institutions doing?
· Prices at other universities range from 5 to 10 cents per page for black-and-white print jobs.
· A few universities provide free printing but make students bring their own paper.
· A few still provide free printing but are investigating the best method to charge.

When will this charge go into effect?
· The charge went into effect on August 16, 2007.

How do I pay for printing?
· You use your Cougar Card to pay for printing. You can put money on your Cougar Card by using the Card Valuing Center in the library or Cougartrail, or by going to Cougar Card Services or the Treasurer’s Office. Please note that there is a 1–3 hour delay before your account is credited.
· If you use your Cougar Card to make photocopies, you get copies at a cheaper rate than you would if you paid with coins.

If I have an unpaid library fine, can I still print?
· Yes. Library fines are unrelated to your ability to print.

Can I print from a wireless laptop in the library?
· Not at present, but we hope to do this in the future.

What paper sizes are available?
· Library printers will only print on 8.5" x 11" paper.

If you had the ability to print on both sides of the sheet, would that count as one copy or two?
· At present, we do not have printers that are able to print on both sides of the sheet.

· Printing on both sides would have counted as two copies.

What happens if I make a mistake?
· There are several opportunities to cancel a print job during the printing process.

· If you decide you don’t want your print job after you've sent it to the print release station, you don't have to do anything. Print jobs left unclaimed in the print release station's print queue are deleted after 45 minutes.
· If you decide you don’t want a print job once you're logged in at the print release station, you can click “Done” to return to the login screen and cancel your session.
· Information Technology does not offer refunds on print jobs mistakenly sent to a printer from the print release station. To ensure that you get what you expect when printing, please use the “print preview” function available on most browsers and desktop software.

Can I cancel a print job before it prints?
· Yes. You are charged only when the job is released from the print release station. On the print release station, highlight the print job and click on “Delete.”
· Jobs that aren’t released are deleted after 45 minutes.

What should I do if the printer doesn't work?
· Ask for help at the student computing support desk.

My Cougar Card won’t swipe through the card reader. What do I do?
· If your Cougar Card is damaged, you will need to obtain a replacement from Cougar Card Services. Until you have a replacement, you can download materials to a USB drive (aka thumb drive, flash drive, jump drive) or CD-ROM, e-mail the file or article to yourself or print it out on the library’s public printer.

Any chance of a refund?
· We will do our best to address problems that may occur due to equipment failure but we will not offer refunds. If there is a problem with your Cougar Card or Blackboard account, you will be directed to Cougar Card Services.
· We are not responsible – and cannot offer refunds – if you print too many pages, misspell words or print the wrong pages or documents.
· If the printer jams while printing a document, please get a desk attendant to clear the jam. Please wait for a moment as the printer should automatically reprint the document after the jam is cleared without recharging the allocation account. If the printer doesn’t reprint the document, please see the desk attendant.

What can I do to minimize my printing costs?
· Use the “print preview” function to confirm that you will be printing what you expect to print.
· When printing PowerPoint presentations, use the “handouts” function to print more than one screen per page.
· On the “Format” menu, go to “Background” to change dark backgrounds to white, thereby saving toner.
· Do as much on-screen editing as possible before printing the document.
· Consider highlighting portions of text (e.g., on a website) and printing only the selected text or copying the selected text into an e-mail or Word document to print later. Hint: Be sure to make a note of the citation information if you're including it in a paper!
· Check the spelling in your documents before printing.
· Don't print out e-mail unless absolutely necessary.
· If you must print e-mail, copy several messages into a Word file to reduce the number of pages you need to print out. This is a good tip for working with Web-based information, too.
· Use your own printer.

What are my alternatives to printing in the lab?
· Download materials to a USB drive (aka thumb drive, flash drive, jump drive) or CD-ROM.
· E-mail the file or article to yourself.
· Use your own printer.

Can graduate students get more free prints since they often have more intensive coursework?
· No. The same argument could also be made for English majors or students in other writing-intensive disciplines. Since graduate students were not charged any additional fees, they do not receive any additional prints.

What if I have special circumstances or a disability that requires me to print everything?
· Disabilities will be handled through the Center for Disability Services (SNAP), 953-1431.
· Any other special circumstances should be addressed with the office recognizing and arranging the special circumstance.
What is this box that says $15 on my account when I print?
· This indicates that you have 300 free prints (300 X .05 = $15).
· Each student starts a semester with a $15 credit in his or her print allocation account. Every time a student prints a page, 5 cents is subtracted from his or her credit, and the account balance is posted.
· Every time a student prints, the computer shows how much credit is left on the account.
· We can’t accept money to increase a student’s allocation account. We don’t handle any of the money used for printing. This is done through Cougar Card Services.

What can I do if I have questions or comments regarding the new printing policy?
· A suggestion/comments box has been posted on the College website at http://www.cofc.edu/it/helpdesk/students/printingcomments.html.
· The responses can be read at http://www.cofc.edu/it/helpdesk/students/printingcomments_response.html.

Created and updated by:

Tracy Bates
Priscilla Burbage
Bob Cape
Mike Haskins
James Williams III

September 5, 2007

If you have any questions, please contact the Student Support Desk by email at StudentComputingSupport@cofc.edu or by phone at (843) 953-5457.