On-campus printing policy unfair to students
Central Michigan University’s new PrintQ system and policy of permitting only a certain amount of printed pages is limiting to students and should be altered or abolished.
The policy, which permits $10 of printed materials for undergraduates and $15 for graduate students may seem like a reasonable way for the university to save money. But in reality, it restricts many traditional studying practices and limits writing and research for graduates students, who often have print-heavy curriculum.
This policy, along with the limiting of hours of operation for on-campus computer labs, sends a message to both current and prospective students: A student must own both a computer and printer of their own to get a complete educational experience.
This is restrictive to people with lower income, as well as people who do not have a particular level of technological know-how.
The printed-page limit, approximately 250 pages, may seem like a high number of pages that not many people will reach. However, the people that go over that limit and need to pay extra to use campus resources may feel unfairly targeted.
The most reasonable solution may be to abolish this policy and cut spending in other areas to save the same amount of money.
Another possibility would be to alter the current system. There are many students that do not use on-campus printer resources at all.
Giving students an option to claim how many pages they expect to print on-campus may help give more pages to the students that actually need them. If students were to claim usage of less or no pages, the surplus pages could be redistributed to the students who would use them.
These on-campus computer and printer resources are where a portion of student tuition goes. While costs for resources are constantly rising, questions also have to be raised.
In a year where CMU has the largest incoming class in its history and thus more tuition dollars, how can the university not afford appropriate amounts of these commodity resources? Are they spending that excessively?
As a learning institution, CMU should be changing policies and assigning money to make sure students have all the resources they need to complete their classes and learn their necessary information and skills, instead of taking these resources away from them.
