Printing credit should be raised, standardized

All Syracuse University students are expected to utilize their printing quotas to meet the demands of their respective courses. Though this credit amount varies depending on which school or college in which a student is enrolled, the quota should be standardized and raised to better meet the needs of more SU students.

The Student Association Academic Affairs Committee has been working to raise the printing quota for students in a joint effort with Information Technology and Services. To make effective change in the near future, SA should create a formal task force to assess how large the credit raise should be and its feasibility for the university.

The organization should also survey students to discover how much they pay for printing beyond the quota. Though this amount may vary depending on a student’s major, creating a universal quota amount will account for the individual, print-heavy courses students of all majors choose to enroll in.

Though raising the credit amount that students receive from the university is necessary, it is also imperative that environmental concerns are also considered. Wasteful paper usage habits were the reason the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications transitioned from employing free printing to a designated quota for its students in fall 2011.

Beyond adding to the credit amount, SU professors could help solve the quota issue and keep SU as green as possible by posting more assignments online. The SU Blackboard site is an accessible platform for doing this. Professors should also allow students to bring their computing devices to class to reference the assignments, instead of encouraging students to print them.

This is another element of raising the quota to which SA should pay close attention, as finding a balance is key to the successes of an environmentally conscious institution.

As printing demands stay significant for many courses at SU, it is important for students to be better equipped to accommodate this and meet the university’s academic standards adequately.