By Colt Taylor/ campus editor

A new option is being made available to students needing to print out documents, but free printing will no longer be offered.

Traditional printing has been replaced with the new We Print Away, or WEPA, system as part of an effort to organize how printing is done on each campus. This new cloud-based printing system will provide easier access to printing for students, who can upload documents to the cloud and print them out upon arriving on any campus, executive procurement director Mike Herndon said.

Documents can be uploaded from any device, and WEPA offers more options for printing, including double-sided and colored printing at various prices.

Printing with WEPA will cost 10 cents for single-sided pages, 18 cents for double-sided papers, 50 cents for colored single-sided and 80 cents for double-sided colored pages. The library has provided an introductory webpage on the WEPA system including usage instructions and kiosk locations on each campus, which can be found at http://libguides.tccd.edu/wepa.

Some places still offered free printing, such as the SE Campus student success center and some computer, writing and math labs for up to 10 sheets of paper. Despite this trade-off, interim contract administrator Ray Allison believes the options added by the WEPA kiosks are worth the fee for students.

“We’re giving the students more options than they’ve had before,” Allison said.

The cost will not be much different than it is from current locations that charge for printing, and the machines will be available for use during normal operating hours for each campus, Herndon said.

Campuses had different ways of handling printing, so students attending multiple campuses would have a different experience on each campus, NE Campus president Allen Goben said.

After reviewing each campus’ printing system, TCC crafted a consistent model to be put in place districtwide.

“It’s a result of the campus growing up,” Goben said.

Setting up WEPA has been a three-year project, Allison said. The new system will solve problems involving wasted printer paper on the campuses.

Allison said he hopes WEPA will have students take more responsibility for the papers they print, resulting in less paper waste.

NE Student Government Association president Cristian Villegas is opposed to the loss of free printing and is considering methods to boost revenue and allow free printing to remain in place for future semesters, Villegas said in a mass email.

Students interested in the issue can contact Villegas at cristian.villegas@my.tccd.edu.