UM-Dearborn students not pleased with new UPrint system on campus

By NOUHAD ALAME, Staff Writer

Not long ago, the Fairlane Center operated on a printing system known as PaperCut,which provided a free quota totaling a balance of $14.00 on behalf of registered student for academic purposes. The main campus however, varied in the operational systems depending on where the student’s whereabouts happened to be: in the library (which was free), the SLC , or two other computer laboratories located on the main campus which provided printing for as little as two cents per page.

Fairlane Center however, became the word of news around campus as students became aware of the free quota provided to them each new semester. Even students on the main campus would take a few minutes out of their days to make a quick trip to the Fairlane Center in order to take advantage of the awesome quota provided with the intention of motivating and making education more convenient. As quickly as the Fall semester of 2012 came, it ended. The new Winter semester of 2013 showed us changes that were not quite as promising after all, according to students using the new system known as UPrint.

One student in particular has quite a lot to say, and asked to stay anonymous due to his frustration. “Okay, I was fine with two cents, let me say that. But I don’t really understand who is deciding this five cent charge; that’s just ridiculous. If I were crazy enough, I would sit down right now and calculate the difference in charge printing at home is compared to printing on campus.”

With the ink toners being ordered by large manufacturers such as OfficeMax, the university is pretty much guaranteed approximately 2,500 pages per toner, while a normal cartridge one would use at home provides you with approximately 190—244 pages at most. Moreover, the toner purchased by these manufacturers can be easily found under $49 dollars. The normal home cartilages others use tend to start at about $19.00 dollars. That is to say, that if a student were to purchase two cartridges for a total of about $45 and a guarantee of about 450 pages total, it is nothing like the yield the toners on campus provide. The anonymous students goes on to say that, “financial aid might as well start taking that into consideration if we’ve come this far! I’m spending more than $40 a semester on campus to keep up with some of my professors; it’s just ridiculous.”

Dana Ford on the other hand, doesn’t particularly mind. In fact, Ford has worked on campus as a computer consultant at both the SLC and now in the one of the computer labs located in the Mardigian Library. Ford  is now experienced with both the Uprint and the PaperCut system and she says that being a College of Business student, she has never really felt that she needed to exceed her printing quota there. She says, “I know some people have a hard time with printing because they tend to exceed their limits, but I really don’t mind because I’ve never gone past my limit at COB.”

The majority of students thus far do not seem all that pleased. Some report that, as if tuition increases were not enough, now they have new financial dilemmas on campus that have to be taken into account. For those who do not do much printing on campus, the new Uprint system is hardly anything new at all.