Both the amount of paper being used and the cost of supplying unlimited, free printing to students in the computer labs have jumped dramatically over the last couple of years.

Reports show that almost 137,000 pages were printed in the computer labs between June 1 and June 22, and yet according to Interim Assistant Vice President of Information Technology Yvonne Flood, lab usage is much lower during the summer semester.

IT has been researching solutions that will allow students to track their print usage so as to encourage them to save paper and, in turn, decrease costs. This summer, three vendors gave demonstrations of software that tracks usage. The software assigns an account to every student. When print jobs are submitted, a pop-up tells students how many pages they have printed.

An RFP (request for proposal) is being developed and Flood hopes to have the initial phase of the project under way this fall.

“We’ll be gathering data on the average student use of printing in the labs with the goal of setting a per-semester allocation for the number of pages they can print at no cost,” Flood explained. “Other colleges we have talked to have set their allocation at 100-200 pages per semester,” she added.

“We plan to track the usage through the fall semester,” Flood said. At the same time, the college’s Lab Advisory Group will begin discussions to determine the allocation amount. Student Services and Student Government will also be consulted in the process.

“We want to encourage students to think about and manage what they’re printing,” Flood said. “The greatest benefit of a print solution like this will be the reduction of the enormous amount of paper being used.”