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Student Printing
Introduction
For many years, the College has provided unrestricted black and white laser printing at no charge to all its students. From an environmental perspective, unlimited printing has become unsustainable and for this reason, we are introducing a print management system. Printing in support of your course will continue to be free, but it is hoped that the new system will curtail unnecessary printing thus helping to reduce waste and overall print volumes.
How does it work?
The system operates by notionally charging for all printing. The base price is set at 5p/9p for single/double sided A4 printing – double sided is the college default. Students are allocated an initial account balance of £20 to last the year – this is equivalent to a minimum 400 pages of single sided A4 black and white print. Your current account balance is displayed on your computer...
...and as you print, you will be presented with the cost and asked to confirm that you wish to continue...
...as a result of which your remaining balance will decrease. The account balance panel also provides a 'Details' link for you to administer your printing account.
How did the college arrive at the £20 allocation?
Printing requirements for a number of courses were assessed and whilst there was some variation, a figure slightly over 300 pages per year emerged. This was rounded up to 400 pages to allow a margin for error and to make allowance for ‘spoiled’ prints.
Can I use college printers for non-course related or private printing?
Yes, you may but since your account allocation has been calculated to cover only course related printing, you will need to ‘top-up’ your account to cover the cost of this additional printing.
How can I ‘top-up’ my account balance?
The system is topped up via vouchers which are available for purchase in the LRCs at the four main campuses. They are available in £1, £5 & £10 denominations.
What happens if my account balance runs out?
At that point, you will be unable to print. This situation should be avoidable since you can monitor your account balance and hence moderate your printing rate accordingly. If you find yourself using your allocation too quickly and you have printed only course related work, you should consult your tutor who may review your print log with you and offer you advice.
Can I claim a refund for faulty printing?
Unfortunately, no. This would be impractical to operate at all our printing locations and for this reason, an allowance has already been included within the initial allocation, and for vouchers purchased subsequently, an additional 10% value will be added to the voucher. e.g. a £5 voucher will top up your account by £5.50. This will more than compensate for ‘actual’ spoiled copies.
What is the PrintSaver queue?
Large companies are moving away from small local laser printers to larger centralised Multi-Function Devices (MFDs). It is likely that the College will start to invest in these shortly since they are vastly more energy and cost efficient than lots of small lasers. The collection of print from a centralised machine will become the norm and be much cheaper – PrintSaver is our current centralised offer.
All teaching and LRC areas have the PrintSaver queue set as the default but other local printers may be selected manually. This facility is also accessible as an option at most other computers. Once sent to the PrintSaver queue, your printing must be collected at some later time via the ‘Print Release Stations’ located in the LRCs. Printing sent to the PrintSaver queue must be collected within 48 hours after which it is automatically removed. To further mirror the centralised MFD experience, the cost of print via the PrintSaver queue is set at 4p/6p for single/double sided printing – making your allocation stretch to over 650 pages.
Points to remember...
- Please print sparingly – we wish to minimise unnecessary printing
- Proof read on screen – draft printing is wasteful
- Monitor your account balance – you cannot print once it runs out
- Account balances cannot be refunded/reclaimed
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