This fall, the newly instituted iPrint system became a permanent fixture in campus computer labs and libraries, limiting the amount of pages students can print per semester while working to cut back on print delays.
Under the system, 650 pages are allotted to each student per semester, with an additional 200 pages during the summer session. The cost amounts to $32 per student, taken from a mandatory technology fee. The cost of printing over the limit in the library is currently $0.04 per double-sided page (per side) and $0.05 per single-sided page.
While some students see the new system as a great improvement, others are questioning if the efficiency is worth the cost.
"I think it's ridiculous because we pay enough in tuition already," said Alyssa Kramer, a senior psychology major. "I haven't noticed a change in the time of printing. I think it's taking longer to print now and I don't see the point."
iPrint may be the cheapest place to print on campus - Great Lakes Printing, for example, located in the Commons, charges $0.14 per double-sided page and $0.08 per single sided page - but some students still see the fee as being too high.
Alfred Chen, a junior mechanical engineering major, also thought that the cost may be mandatory, but said that the job shouldn't come at such a cost.
"It's not free. I think the cost could be more effective; I think with the bulk that UB prints it could be cheaper."
This problem, though, seems to be specific to graduate students.
"Grad students need to print more, but undergrads don't need that much," said Joshua Wrazen, a junior electrical engineering major who works at the Lockwood print station.
Other students think that the great advantage of iPrint is the reduced print delay. In the past, print jobs have been delayed for up to two hours during peak times, which according to Wrazen are 8:30 Monday morning and 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays.
iPrint's impact on the delay has been evident over the past few weeks when the program has been alternately off and on.
"When it's on, queue time is fifteen minutes max," Wrazen said. "When it's off, it can easily go two plus hours. Right now it is off and someone is printing over 2000 pages, which slows printing down for everyone else at least eight minutes."
The inconsistency of the iPrint program is due to the adjustment of turning a trial program into a permanent fixture.
"It will be at least one or two months before it is straightened out," Wrazen said. "Until then, come an hour or two earlier."
Priyanka Mahajan, a junior mechanical and aerospace engineering dual major who works in the Undergraduate Library print lab, has noticed a difference with iPrint.
"There are a lot of problems at times, but they are fixing it," Mahajan said. "Things are more efficient when it is working. Students are more likely to pick up the print-outs when it is turned on, because they paid for it. When it is off we are left with boxes of print outs students never pick up."
One benefit of iPrint is the environmental factor of conserving paper. UB Green supports the program, which is estimated to result in a 30 percent reduction in paper supplies.
