Under pay-for-print, students now pay four cents per page (black and white) in lieu of the previous $5.00 omnibus print fee that was charged at registration. Most students use far fewer pages than the standing fee covered and effectively subsidized the minority who print many more.
Now students can use their personal C-Cards (campus I.D. cards that do double duty as a debit card in dining facilities and the HSU Bookstore) to pay four cents per print only for the paper they consume.
While spreading the costs more fairly, the new system helps to conserve paper. Each year, more than four million pages are printed in HSU’s interdisciplinary labs. Students consume one pallet of paper a week in those facilities.
In one 30-day period, academic computing staff collected about 52,000 sheets of wasted print-outs after the labs closed. That waste is equivalent to an estimated six trees a month—48 trees a school year. This waste does not take into account paper that students take with them that is lost to recycling.
Under the new system, students are told the cost of each print-out, informed of their remaining C-Card balance and prompted to confirm each print-out before it is activated. They do not have to swipe their cards. If print quality is poor or the printer fails, they can request a refund if they had to print out a second copy on an alternate printer.
Students can add money to their C-Cards at the bookstore, the Housing & Dining Cashier’s office or online at http://c-card.humboldt.edu/
Further information and FAQs about pay-for-print are available at 707/826-4357 and http://www.humboldt.edu/its/payforprint.