The price of printing is outrageous at the U.
The U charges 8 cents per side of a black-and-white page and 75 cents per side of a color page. Either from a lack of comparison or a lack of necessity, perhaps you’ve never realized just how high that is. The U’s prices are put to shame when compared with various state-funded institutions.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas for example, charges 2 cents per page for black-and-white prints (a fourth of the price at the U), and 25 cents per page of color (a third of the price at the U).
Utah Valley University’s prices, according to library technicians, are slightly more aligned with the U’s8212;5 cents a page for black-and-white prints (three cents less than the U) and 20 cents a page for color prints (55 cents less than the U). Although the black-and-white price is not much less than the U’s, UVU awards $5 of printing credit that is automatically placed on each student’s card at the beginning of each semester. That’s 100 free black-and-white prints, which some students will never even come close to reaching.
These numbers might seem petty and unimportant. Indeed, 8 cents a page seems inconsequential until you get that professor who insists that the only way to pass his or her class is to print off 20 pages of PowerPoint slides every class period (a situation that might increase amid budget pinches). Or until you have to print out three drafts of your 17-page research paper. It’s barely three weeks into the semester and my UCard has been depleted of $20 of credit.
Consider that Kinko’s, a company that has surely adjusted its prices to make a profit, charges 9 cents a page for black-and-white prints and 49 cents per color page. That’s only 1 cent more than the U for black and white and 26 cents less for color. Those prices suggest that the U is netting profit from student printing revenue. Printing, in my opinion, should be a service designed to facilitate students’ needs without making a profit8212;a break-even type of situation.
The U has undeniably made great strides in becoming an environmentally friendly campus. Still, with its policy on double-sided printing prices, the U has erased all incentive to be green in your printing practices. As mentioned above, one side of a black and white printout is 8 cents. However, when printing on both sides of a piece of paper, the price doubles to 16 cents. Of course, much of the price of printing is determined by the cost of ink. Still, when using one sheet of paper for two sides of printing, the price should be lower to encourage conservation, perhaps 12 to 14 cents per page.
Some departmental computer labs on campus have found ways to creatively manage their allotted budgets from student computing fees, which are built into your tuition, so they can offer some free printing to students. Technically, the offer is only meant to serve students in the department, though the rule is often overlooked. However, as word has gotten out about these locations, these labs are finding it harder to continue free printing. But it begs the question: If some labs can figure out how to provide these services, why can’t others? What is it that these labs are doing with their budgets that others can’t or won’t?
This column falsely stated that University of Utah Print and Copy Services is responsible for campus printing prices. University of Utah Print and Copy Services operates as a business independent of the university, and their prices aren’t affected by and do not dictate those of campus lab printers.
John Hannon