How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
NYU students will no longer have the luxury of printing their notes, lecture outlines and essays for free. As of this school year, NYU has eliminated its on-campus free printing areas and is now charging students 10 cents per page for all printing requests. In years past, computer labs across campus provided free printing services for students. Information Technology Services' printing facilities, in locations such as Third Avenue North residence hall and the Kimmel Center, were often packed with students printing notes and reading materials for their classes free of charge. However, due in large part to a recent move to cut costs and to become more environmentally friendly, this is no longer the case.
According to NYU spokesman John Beckman, the print quotas are a means of increasing the university's savings, improving the efficiency of facilities and decreasing overall waste.
Of the 18 million pages printed in labs last year, approximately five to six million of them were abandoned as waste, Beckman said. He added that NYU stands to save some $200,000 per year with the new printing policy.
Under the new system, students will start each semester with a $50 ITS print grant, enough for 500 free pages.
However, for many, especially those enrolled in reading-intensive classes, this still leaves hundreds of pages that need to be paid for out-of-pocket.
"It's crazy. One of my classes alone requires about 30 to 40 pages of reading material and assignments to be printed a week. Add in my other three classes, and I'm printing about 100 pages a week," CAS sophomore Jaime Ma said. "$50 isn't enough - that'll last me five weeks, maybe."
CAS senior Gizem Ünsalan doubts she will exceed the $50 print grant, but said that the new policy is an unnecessary burden.
"I mean, we are already paying so much to go here," Ünsalan said. "We should at least be allowed to print what we need without being charged."
Accompanying this policy shift was a decision to change the hours at the Third North computer labs, which will no longer be open 24 hours. Instead, the new hours of operation are 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on weekdays and noon to 8 p.m. on weekends.
Beckman said the changes were a response to a recommendation made by the IT Task Force suggesting a restructuring of the school's computer labs.
"ITS is moving ahead with implementing this recommendation. This means that Third North is now being redesigned and their hours have been cut back," Beckman said.
Beckman said students may have access to longer printing hours at Third North at certain times later in the semester. "Although we expect to keep the current hours, they will be examined — we are looking at extended hours during peak times, such as exam periods."
