Students get fewer printouts
A decision to raise computer printout prices and decrease the number of free printouts was finalized by the Computer Fee Board in November, USU Academic Senate Vice Presidnet Spencer Watts said Dec. 15.
Effective spring semester 2006, Utah State University computer labs will charge six cents a copy, a one-cent increase from the previous cost. The free laser balance, the amount of free printouts, will decrease this semester from 35 to 30.
“It’s not going to affect students all that much,” Watts said.
The move is “a way to localize fee increase,” as it affects only those students who use computer labs, instead of charging everyone, Watts said.
The increase in price and decrease in free printouts was decided as an alternative to raising student fees or decreasing the number of hours campus computer labs are open.
Watts said the board, which consists of six students and two faculty members, could have requested a two or three dollar increase on student computer fees, but decided instead to look internally at what could be done to compensate for the loss of revenue from decreased enrollment.
“I think most people won’t even notice,” Jon Jensen, a sophomore majoring in civil engineering, said.
Jensen, a student who relies on the university’s computer labs, said he thinks the price increase is “a better way.”
While the amount the changes are expected to generate remain unknown, the decision is a way to cover some bases until enrollment increases, Watts said.
Raising fees is something that’s looked at every year, he said. The computer lab fees, which are second highest next to building fees, go toward maintaining campus computer labs and kiosks and replacing the computers every three years, Watts said. With fewer students enrolling, the fees don’t generate as much, so alternative methods need to be instituted to compensate.
-mof@cc.usu.edu