Out of the five largest public universities in Texas, UT is the only school that doesn’t offer students credit for printing.
Students must pay for each page printed through Bevo Bucks or by loading money to a UT Libraries print account to print at UT. This policy stands out in comparison to other Texas universities, most of which provide students a certain amount of credit each semester. Texas A&M University, for example, has the largest enrollment in the state and offers students $30 in printing credit for each long semester.
Julio Diaz, an English and creative writing sophomore, said he thinks UT should have a printing credit plan similar to those of other universities, but understands why printing isn’t totally free.
“I guess it all comes down to the priorities that the University has,” Diaz said. “It’s really more of a financial burden for everyone around, and the University doesn’t really understand that because they’re the ones profiting, they’re not the ones paying.”
According to the UT 2015-16 budget, Information Technology Services was estimated to receive $293,288 from printing services.
Michael Asper, a math and computer science sophomore, said during his freshman year he would spend $10 to $15 a semester on printing, but he doesn’t think it should be free for environmental reasons.
“I honestly do not believe people need to be printing that much,” Asper said. “If your professor needs that much paper, I think the department should go after professors for requesting so much paper. … I don’t really know what has to be printed for someone because now you can sign documents online, you can type anything up no matter what kind of thing it is … and everyone can read it on their phone, on tablets, or computers.”
Printing is a service that many off-campus apartments advertise as an amenity for residents, such as 2400 Nueces.
Maggie Fersing, an applied learning and development sophomore, lives at 2400 Nueces and said they offer free printing for residents if they provide their own paper. Fersing said the service has been helpful and saved her money.
“I haven’t printed on campus because each year I’ve had places that I live that have free printing,” Fersing said. “It wouldn’t be a big deal (to print on campus) … but at the same time I’d rather just have to supply paper and not pay to print per page.”
