Photo by Haylie Jones/The Collegian
by Elaine Bonilla/se news editor
Students wanting to print papers for class should be prepared to pay the price.
TCC libraries typically charge 10 cents per page, but some campuses allow a certain number of free prints.
The South Campus Jenkins Garrett Library allows complimentary printing for the first 10 pages and charges for any prints after that.
Library specialist Leticia Demmitt from NE Campus’ J. Ardis Bell Library said the library doesn’t give free prints except for WebAdvisor.
“I know in the Academic Learning Center, the first 10 pages are free as long as it’s not PowerPoint,” Demmitt said.
Library specialist Tony Queretaro said the NW Walsh Library printer limits students to 20 pages at no charge, and the paper prints front and back.
“There is no stipulation on what a student prints,” Quertaro said. “If students need more prints, they are sent to the copy room where they can better help them with printing.”
The copy center can’t print from a website or email so students must have their file saved to a flash drive or on a CD. The copy center on all campuses charges 10 cents for each black-and-white copy and 75 cents for color.
SE library administrative assistant Denise Krajca said the SE library charges for the amount of pages printed but offers a new way for students to receive free prints during library-sponsored workshops.
“Instructors teaching the classes ask questions, and students who answer questions correctly are given a token,” Krajca said. “Each token is worth five free prints, and a student can receive as many tokens as they like.”
The tokens cannot keep track of how many pages a student prints if that student decides not to use all the prints at once.
“They either use it all or lose what they didn’t use,” Krajca said.
Another option students have is the labs on campus. Some labs allow free prints for students using their services, but others charge. Most labs have certain rules and restrictions when it comes to printing.
The NE Writing Lab is funded by the humanities division, so students working on English papers get 10 free prints. The lab is not set up to take payments for additional prints, so students must go elsewhere for any additional copies they might need.
“Toward the end of the semester as funding runs out, we monitor the prints a bit more and limit students who try and print more,” NE instructional associate Elizabeth Parrish said.
Some allow free prints if it is related to the work students are studying in the lab while others allow free prints as long as it’s not PowerPoint, and others charge. It’s up to the student to find out what the prices and rules are for printing in each lab.
Since all the labs are department-funded, that department determines the rules for the labs. As funding runs out, so does the chance of getting free prints, Parrish said.
Some universities have reloadable cards students use to pay for their prints and more. If students need to print something, they just swipe their card and the amount is deducted from their cards.
Krajca said TCC has discussed adopting a payment option such as this, but it is just under discussion for the time being.
If students expect to print on campus, they should come prepared with a pocket of change and should inquire with the specific lab, library or copy center.
