Comment:

how to check that how many free pages out of 300 I have used

Response:

Thank you for taking the time to write us. Whenever you submit a print job, the system tells you how much credit you have left before the print job is sent to the release station. If you don't release the print job, nothing is subtracted.

Comment:

How many students have run out of their printing allocation already? Do you know?

Response:

Thank you for taking the time to write us. At this point in the semester only 391 or 4% of the student body have used their entire allocation. Only 1826 or 18% have 100 pages or less left on their allocation accounts. This means that the 82% of the student body has more than 1/3 of their allocation left.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.

Comment:

Hello, I have some comments/questions regarding printing in the library.

From the FAQ: Q: "If you had the ability to print on both sides of the sheet, would that count as one copy or two?

A: At present, we do not have printers that are able to print on both sides of the sheet."

Why? Why in the year 2007 at the College of Charleston do we not have printers that can print on both sides? The menu that comes up when you send something to the printer allows the option to be selected, but it does not actually print on both sides when the paper comes out. I understand that the printers that had this option last year malfunctioned frequently but can the college look into providing reliable ones that can perform this option? Were they properly maintained and cared for? Are there other reasons that they kept breaking aside from normal student usage? If part of the effort in this policy change was to save paper, this strategy literally eliminates HALF of the need for paper. If you allow us to print from reliable machines on both sides we will use HALF of the paper. We would all carry and deal with HALF of the weight and space after printing out documents we actually need to keep up with our studies.

A: "Printing on both sides would have counted as two copies."

Again, if the goal is to reduce paper consumption, let us print on both sides and charge us for each sheet of paper we actually use.
I'm for the decision to limit the number of copies for students in an effort to reduce paper consumption. In my opinion, the only thing missing from the plan is a solid effort toward instilling a real sense of sustainability in the student body on why there is a need to do this in the first place. The new paper policy, when announced, came off as more of a punishment and a reprimand, but the library may have benefited more so by selling the benefits regarding using less paper, etc. The campaign to reduce paper consumption along with the ability to print on both sides of the sheet can be marketed as a program that will further increase knowledge and awareness of these important decisions.

Also from the FAQ: "Students have requested that recycled paper be used. Recycled paper costs 60% more than standard paper."

This is ludicrous. While I believe we should promote the use of recycled paper, if the college is paying 60% more for it, we need procurement to seek out a different supplier. This day in age that simply is not a valid argument against the case. It may cost more, but not 60%. If we do a little more research we may be able to find a provider offering recycled paper at a lower cost. This savings can go into better printers, better maintenance, better education on paper reduction and recycling, etc…

Hopefully the library can consider enabling double-sided printing on at least one of the machines to allow those of us that would like to utilize that feature the ability to do so. Thanks.

Response:

Thank you for thoughts and comments. We agree that education regarding conservation is essential along with a willingness to participate and everyone doing his\her fair share. The objective here was not to punish students but to promote environmental and fiscal responsibility. The amount of paper, single sided or double sided, that filled the recycle bins each day was enormous. Simply installing duplex printers alone isn't the answer. We tried it. Students complained regarding printer failure and print jobs slowing down the printers. Also, most of the cost of printing is in the toner. Duplex printing does save paper if used; however, it still uses the same amount of toner as 2 single sided pages. The Windows XP software supports duplex printing whether you have a duplex printer or not and that's why you see that option. However, we will continue to investigate duplexing technology in the future and may again try duplex printing if we can find a reliable printer for the volume of students using the lab. Until then having students consider and print only what they need is the best answer.

Regarding recycled paper, the College like all other state entities is bound by procurement rules and regulations. The State doesn't allow institutions or agencys to purchase everything from anyone. The "state approved" vendors for recycled paper charged 1 dollar more per ream than standard paper which is 60% more. Recycled paper costs more due to the process it has to undergo to create it. One case of paper contains 10 reams. 80 cases of paper at 1 dollar more per ream = 800 dollars more per order. Again, we are trying to be fiscally responsible and keep costs down for you and the College.

While the computer lab is located in the library, the lab isn't managed or maintained by the library. Neither the library nor IT receives any of the money from students paying for printing.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.

Comment:

Why charge more for printing when tuition costs for seniors has almost doubled since freshman year?

Response:

Thank you for comment. We aren't charging more for printing as this is the first semester we've implemented charging for printing. Again, students are only being charged for what they print above and beyond the first 300 pages of each semester. We hope that print management helps students to think about what they print, make good choices and establish priorities and it seems to be working. Waste and abuse have been reduced as well as costs. This helps both you and the College keep costs at a minimum.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.

Comment:

"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." since the student body is larger than 10,000, the number of pages set aside for free printing will surpass the total of last year's pages printed by even more than 3,000,000. this doesn't save this school any money. if the student body was to actually print the quota you are allowing , it would be costing you more money than before. the people formulating this "solution" had to know that they are budgeting for this greater amount.

it would be better to budget 150 pages for each student for general printing, and use some kind of password, monitoring system, or software that would allow for printing of eRes and database documents. or have a screen name set up for library employees where students send them the link of the eRes or database document and all necessary info (password, class, instructor) and have them print it from the employees computer or make it accessible to the student to print out. i have heard teacher's say that they put items on eRes so that students don't have to buy more and more books. books are counted in our tuition and fee estimates. if the purpose of these eRes documents are to replace books in some cases, then they should be included in these fees and therefore more or less covered by what we pay this institution towards tuition.

Response:

Thank you for taking the time to write us. The intent of the policy is to reduce costs by reducing waste. Last year we had to order between 60 to 80 cases of paper per week, this year we have only ordered 80 cases of paper so far this semester. Both you and the College have saved since tuition did not have to increase further to offset printing costs.
Placing documents in Eres as a supplement to course textbooks is still an inexpensive alternative to course packets and additional textbooks. The average course packet costs between 15 and 120 dollars. Students would pay more for 1 course packet than their entire print allocation. We have asked faculty to take the new printing policy under consideration when planning their course curricula.
Last, while textbooks and fees may be considered for financial aid, they are not included in tuition.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.

Comment:

While I completely understand the reasoning behind the limit set for pages printed per student it still does not seem right. The college appears to pass off lotts of expenses to students and one more is not helping the financial situation of some of us. Wtih parking already a strain this just adds to the pile. 300 seems like a small figure. If we were talking 500-600 it might seem a bit more fair. College is getting costlier every year and as far as I am concerned schools should be doing everything to stem toll it takes on students pockets!

Response:

Thank you for your comments and understanding. The cost of printing isn't a College of Charleston cost that is being passed off to students by the College. Free printing isn't really free and never has been. The money for paper and toner comes from a departmental budget that could be used to pay other expenses like student worker wages. With the rising amount of wasted paper in the recycle bins and rising paper and toner costs, the department and the College could no longer afford to pay the bill for everyone, especially those who abused printing. Photocopying has never been free. Textbooks aren't free. Course Packets which are the alternative to posting documents electronically for students to print out are much more expensive than 5 cents per page and were required by faculty before we had "free" printing. Notebooks, pens, pencils, folders, room and board are all items that are in addition to tuition. We are looking out for students financially by charging those actually using the printers and only charging for what they actually print, instead of charging everyone a fee whether they used the printers or not. And while the 300 page allocation per semester may appear to be low, it actually allows for more "free" pages to be printed than students printed last year.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.

Comment:

If I have copies left over from a semester will the unused copies rollover to the next semester?

Response:

Thank you for a very good question. Unfortunately printing doesn't carry over from semester to semester. Every student's account will be refreshed at the beginning of each semester to enable them to print 300 pages.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.

Comment:

I think it is ridiculous to have students pay for printing. I for one do not even use the printing services, but just the sound of it is absurd. How many other colleges do you know who have adopted the same policy? in the letter from a student in SGA, she had said that this has come from five years of study....where can that study be found at? I'de very much like to review this study. And another thing, I know that I will not use my 300 copies, therefore I should be able to give my 300 copies to someone else, or a community bank of free copies. Think of it like a "free parking" on Monopoly.

Response:

Thank you for taking the time to write us. Most colleges charge for printing. Of the colleges that don't, most are investigating charging. Free printing isn't really free and never has been. The money for paper and toner comes from a departmental budget. With the rising amount of wasted paper in the recycle bins and rising paper and toner costs, the department and the College could no longer afford to pay the bill for everyone, especially those who abused printing. Colleges across the country are facing the same problem. Photocopying has never been free. Textbooks aren't free. Course Packets which are the alternative to posting documents electronically for students to print out are much more expensive than 5 cents per page and were required by faculty before we had "free" printing. Notebooks, pens, pencils, folders, room and board are all items that are in addition to tuition. Printing as faculty require is an extension of the materials used in class to support their curricula. The issue of printing on the College of Charleston campus has been studied and researched for at least 5 years; however, there is no published study. There is a PowerPoint presentation that was presented to various campus leaders including the SGA 2 years ago. If you contact James Williams III at the library, you may make an appointment to view the presentation.
Last, while a community pool of free copies sounds like a wonderful idea, we are limited by the technology. Technically there is no way to harvest copies from one account and add them to another. Every student's account will be refreshed at the beginning of each semester. It is interesting that many students are starting to point out that they won't use their entire allocation this semester which may support the theory that printing will vary from semester to semester and the 300 page limit is accurate.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.

Comment:

I agree with the change in the printing system however... have our teachers been made aware of this?? I still have tons of documents required for printing on webct. It's necessary to have these documents during class. Every student pays a hefty tuition to go here... whats 50 more dollars a semester to have printing available to us. I'm sure we are paying for it anyways so it should not matter what we print out right? Thanks!! Hope to find out more about this...

Response:

Thank you for your comments and suggestion. Yes we have asked our faculty to be conscious of the change in printing policy when designing their curricula. Regarding the printing fee, we thought it was better to charge those actually using the printers and to only charge for what they actually used, than to charge everyone a fee whether they used the printers or not. This way instead of "everyone" paying for some students right to abuse printing, students who really need to print would pay only for what they needed. Those who don't need to print, don't pay.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.

Comment:

I agree with the concept of putting a limit on the printing at the college, but 300 sheets is far too low of an allowance. Both students and faculty are already reacting their limits. I feel that 500-600 sheets per semester would be a much more fair limit to oppose for the spring. If this really is a cost issue more then anything else (which I imagine it is) then why not make students bring their own paper to the printers, and use that? It would be a hassle, yes, but its better then having to pay for it. Also paper could be for sale at the reserves desk. Again, I agree with the concept of regulating printing for all the reasons you are, but 300 pages a semester does not suffice for the average college student.

Response:

Thank you for voicing your concerns. Free printing isn't actually free even when it's 300 pages. The money for paper and toner comes from a departmental budget. And while the 300 page allocation each semester may appear to be low, it actually allows for more "free" pages to be printed than students printed last year. As for allowing students to use their own paper, the bigger cost of printing is in the toner. Also allowing students to constantly load small amounts of paper into the printers would lead to more printer down time and worse service for students. Last, there would be the issue of what is a fair price to charge if the library were to start selling paper. If students are taking issue with paying 5 cents for printing are they going to feel that 2 cents or 1 cent is a fair price for a blank sheet of paper? We would be trading one problem for others.

Again thank you again for your good suggestion and comments.

Comment:

The math on the fact sheet sent out stated that 300 x 10,000 students = 9 million copies which is 3 million copies more than were printed last year. The math is incorrect. 300 x 10000 is 3 million, meaning that the allotted copies are half of the amount printed next year. Perhaps students enrolled in certain programs which require more pages to be printed, such as honors college or those students in the process of writing their bachelor's essays, should be alloted more printouts.

Response:

Thank you for your concern and suggestion. The math on the fact sheet is correct. That is 3 million each semester in addition to 3 million for Maymester\Summer for a total of 9 million free copies. Even the allowance of 3 million for the Fall plus 3 million for the Spring places the College at 6 million which is slightly under what was printed last year. As for certain programs having a larger print allocation, please review the Print Management FAQ sheet. It explains that all students pay the same rate for tuition and thus get the same allocation for printing. It wouldn't be fair for other students to receive less when they've paid the same fees.

Thank you again for your concern and thoughtful comments.

Comment:

This is ridiculous...you raise our tuition every year, and have your professors ask us to print off powerpoints for almost every class, but yet you do not let us print for free at our OWN library??? that is absurd, and after reading the reasons why, it makes it seem even more outrageous. there is not a single good reason listed as to why we can not print more than 300 copies.... we are less than a month into school and i have already used half of my copies. NOT EVERYONE USES THE LIBRARY TO PRINT, BUT YOU CAN NOT PUSNISH THE ONE'S WHO DO BECAUSE YOU THINK IT COSTS TOO MUCH.... we pay thousands of dollars a year and can not even print out pages

Response:

Thank you for taking the time to write us. The objective here was not to punish students but to promote environmental and fiscal responsibility. The amount of paper, single sided or double sided, that filled the recycle bins each day was enormous. With the rising amount of wasted paper in the recycle bins and rising paper and toner costs, the department and the College could no longer afford to pay the bill for everyone, especially those who abused printing. Faculty members create their own curricula and decide what they want students to print. We have asked the faculty to be conscious of the printing limitations in place when designing their curricula. The point that students seem to be missing is that printing shouldn't ever have been considered "free" because it isn't free. Photocopying has never been free. Textbooks aren't free. Course Packets which are the alternative to posting documents electronically for students to print out are much more expensive than 5 cents per page and were required by faculty before we had free printing. Printing as faculty require is an extension of the materials used in class to support their curricula. The money it would have taken to continue "free" printing would have been charged back to students probably in the form of an even higher tuition increase. As you pointed out, not everyone uses the library and not everyone abuses printing in the library. This way students who are using the service are only paying for what they need and use instead of paying for everyone's use and other's abuse. Campus Recycling has noticed that they are removing far less paper from the lab so abuse has been reduced.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.

Comment:

I should be able to sell my printing account because I dont use it... Either that or maybe we should shave some of the 1000$'s given to clubs provided by my money to offset the cost of actual student work... Or maybe salaries should be cut..

Response:

Thank you for taking the time to write us. We don't control how you use your printing allocation or encourage selling it; however, I would caution you against giving anyone access to your username and password. Once your printing username and password have been compromised, it affects other systems that you have access to such as email. Regarding student clubs, you may want to speak to someone in the Office of Student Life and voice your concerns. Salary decisions in conjunction with job titles are usually determined at the state level according to band and pay grade. The more likely alternative to charging for printing would have been a larger tuition increase.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.

Comment:

I honestly think this is quite stupid myself. First of all, I like many are here on scholarships, which means being extremely pinched as far as spending goes. Due to most of my classes requiring us to print EReserves are even in one case an entire EBook, the 300 pages do not last through the first month, much less the entire semester. It also isn't like we have a choice in the matter, the professor requires us to print them, it isn't like we can say no. I guess you expect us to tell our professors sure we will print them, if you pay for them... Also considering the tuition has once again increased for CofC for this current school year, it makes even less sense for this. Also I enjoy the fact that USC/Clemson are used as examples, incorrect examples at that, as I will soon point out, but back on track, are you saying that just because they do it CofC should? I always thought that this school supported self thought, not following others. Also not all USC campuses charge for printing, and the two that do, have a higher free print limit then that of CofC. Overall I can't say that I am surprised however, because one of the main things I've noticed here is that if another penny can be squeezed out, it will be...

Response:

Thank you for your concern. You make a number of good points here to be addressed. Eres articles and eBooks will exhaust your allocation account if you are “required” to print them. Faculty members require students to have textbooks and other assigned readings which are not paid for by the College. Faculty members tried to ease the financial burden for students by posting more documents electronically via Eres and WebCT while printing was free. Historically students have had to pay for photocopying and course packets. Free printing was implemented with the Internet, word processing and creation of computer labs on most campuses. Most campuses responded to immediate printing needs first with dot matrix and ink jet printers without a method of charging for printing and without anticipating how quickly printing needs and costs would escalate. Regarding Clemson http://www.clemson.edu/futurestudents/costs.html, http://www.clemson.edu/oirweb1/factbook/cgi-bin/general_search.cgi?conf_file_name=FB_CollegeGenderRace.conf and USC http://www.sc.edu/aboutusc/ both their tuition and enrollment is higher than the College of Charleston http://treasurer.cofc.edu/financial.html, http://ir.cofc.edu/prg/pg47.htm. And while there may be some labs on their campuses that are free, not all printing at these institutions as you pointed out, is free. Our campus like most campuses took time to study the situation and develop a strategy to offset the growing printing costs in a way that would impact students the least. By charging 5 cents instead of 7 or 10, and allowing some free printing, the College is trying to help our students keep more of their pennies.

The College provided free copies for as long as possible. While the majority of students use the printers for educational purposes, it is not uncommon to find students using the printers for commercial and recreational purposes. It’s more equitable to charge those who are actually using the service to excess. We want you and all students to know that this decision was not made in haste and the 300 complimentary copies are offered to try to ease the transition and afford students the ability to print the course work that they need to submit to their instructors.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.

Comment:

I think you should allow printing on both sides of paper. It cuts down paper use, but you can still charge per printed page to keep the cost the same. You'd be saving money by saving paper and saving trees.

Response:

Thank you for your concern. In response to your statement regarding double sided printing, we used to have Xerox printers with a duplexer for double sided printing but the printers malfunctioned frequently, reached the end of their usable maintenance cycle and had to be replaced. These were the machines that always had the out of order signs on them primarily because of the duplexer. We will continue to explore other options including revisiting duplex printing in the future.

Thanks again for the good suggestion.