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Residential Computing is changing print accounting policy on the Row and in the independent Governor's Corner houses starting in the fall of 2003. The changes are designed to make the cost of printing more equitable for everyone living on campus. Here is some information on the hows and whys of current print accounting policies and practices and changes for the upcoming year. For this document, when we refer to the Row, we include the independent Governor's Corner houses (East, Murray and Yost) which have been on the same print system.
Q. How do printing and print accounting work now in the public computer clusters?
A. Residential Computing provides a public computer cluster in every student residence (except Schwab). Each cluster includes a black and white laser printer. Students can print to these printers from their own computers as well as the cluster computers. In the graduate and non-Row undergraduate residences, ResComp provides printer supplies, i.e. paper and toner, and students are charged ten cents per page. Print jobs are billed through the Stanford CardPlan. In houses on the Row, while ResComp provides computer clusters with printers, houses purchase their own paper and toner with house funds, collected through resident board bills. Students are not charged for individual print jobs.
Academic Computing, ResComp's parent organization, also provides public clusters in Meyer Library and Tresidder Union, and these clusters use the print accounting system as well (with students paying ten cents per page). The Libraries, including Green, use print accounting, as do other departments such as the School of Education and the Program in Writing and Rhetoric.
For more information on print accounting and how to print to your residence cluster printer, visit the Print Accounting page.
Q. What changes are being made to printing in the residences?
A. Starting Fall 2003, students in Row houses will be charged ten cents per page for printing to their cluster printer, just like students who use printers in all other ResComp-provided clusters. Additionally, ResComp will provide paper and toner for those printers. This will affect the 36 Row houses and three independent Governor's Corner houses which currently have free printing.
This will not affect how the printers are maintained - your RCC will still be responsible for refilling the printer with paper and toner, and problems with your printer should still be reported to your RCC who will then work with the ResComp central office to solve them.
Q. Why is Residential Computing making these changes?
A. Four reasons:
Q. How will this benefit me as an individual? Won't I be worse off than before?
A. We expect the houses to save even more on supplies than the residents will be spending on printing in total. As such, your house will have surplus money with which to have a party, buy a giant inflatable dog, or hand each of you a $10 bill to cover your printing costs.
Q. Where does all the printing money go?
A. Any money collected through the print accounting system goes to recouping the cost of providing printing services within the residences. This includes replacing old printers, purchasing toner and paper for the dorms, maintaining the printers (through a maintenance contract with an outside company), and updating the complicated and expensive print accounting software used to authenticate users and bill print jobs. The current amount collected is not sufficient to cover all these expenses. We do not expect to take in more money than will be spent on printing related costs.
Q. Why haven't the Row houses traditionally had to pay for printing?
A. The reason is largely historical. When ResComp first adopted the print accounting system in 1993, it required both an expensive server and an expensive printer to be put in each cluster. This was also the first year that all Row houses had computer clusters. Since the print accounting system was new, it appeared more cost effective to avoid purchasing 39 more of the devices for the houses and simply try the system out with the other residences. The Row used comparatively inexpensive printers (not surprisingly given the smaller populations), and the student-managed culture of the houses preferred to pay for printing communally. However, the print accounting system now relies on a single server, and all clusters now use the same model of printer.
Q. How is printing in the Row houses costing the University?
A. In the 39 clusters that are currently exempt from print accounting, ResComp must cover the costs of both printer maintenance and printer replacement. Because these printers are used four times as much as other printers (per capita), the costs are significant.
Q. Why do we have to pay for printing at all? Why is there no campus-wide free printing quota?
A. Currently, there is no campus-wide printing system, free or otherwise. As a result, the cost of providing printing services falls on individual departments, as is the case with the printing services provided in the residential computer clusters by ResComp. While some departments continue to offer free printing, many are finding that the cost of offering the service is too great and are moving to a fee-for-service model. If departments were to continue to offer free printing, they would need to cover those increasing costs with funds currently spent on other services, programs, etc. Since the ResComp print accounting system is the only accounting system available currently, other departments are starting to use it (e.g., School of Education and the Program in Writing and Rhetoric).
To have a campus-wide printing system, which would be necessary for a campus-wide printing quota, the University as a whole (or specifically, ITSS) would need to either provide printing services or reimburse individual departments (such as ResComp) for their printing costs. This would require a University-wide infrastructure that currently does not exist.
Regardless, the cost of printing needs to be covered, so presumably if students did not pay directly, they would pay through an increase in tuition. All services are paid for by the students one way or another, so introducing a new service would mean that cost would need to come from a specific fee, room-and-board, tuition, or at the expense of an existing service.
Q. What about Sweet Hall printing and my Leland print quota?
A. Your Leland print quota isn't real money. It's how the Sweet Hall UNIX cluster allows printing to their printers while preventing abuse. They have free printing to their printers, and they eat the cost out of their budget. To prevent abuse and keep their costs down, each person has a quarterly limit, hence the quota. Since it's specific to their printers, it can't be used in the residences or other places that charge for printing.
Sweet Hall will be moving to print accounting next year anyway, so their printers will work in the same manner as those in the residences, and there will be no more quota.
Q. Whom can I contact with my questions or concerns?
A. If you have any more questions, feel free to talk to your RCC and/or contact the ResComp central staff.