PolyCard Printing: Myths and Facts Revealed!

MYTH: Foundation has found yet another way to make a profit off of students!

FACT: The cost of printing charged in Open Access labs is to recover the costs of printing. No profit is being made. The use of the labs is still free. Printing was previously subsidized (paid for) by the campus departments running the labs. True, money has to be deposited into Campus Express, which is a Foundation operation, but Foundation merely acts as an intermediary. The money is transferred back to ITS and the departments that operate the computer labs to reimburse the money that they spent.

MYTH: Students weren't allowed to vote for the new charge!

FACT: The Laser Printing Fee proposal was presented to the Campus Fee Advisory Committee (CFAC). The students on the committee, with the help of ITS, presented this proposal to the ASI Board of Directors. After 3 weeks of discussion, ASI passed a resolution (#00-05) in support of the proposal.

MYTH: 10 cents a page is a rip off!

FACT: The actual cost of printing one page, including the cost of the paper, toner, cost of the printer, print servers, labor, etc. is 11.19 cents. ITS is subsidizing 1.19 cents per page to make the charge an even 10 cents per page for students. Kinko's charges 49 cents a page. Why? They have to make a profit. Cal Poly is just trying to save money and eliminate waste. The College of Business alone spent $65,000 on paper and ink last year in their computer lab. In the Library, half a million pages were printed in only 3 months. That's an expenditure of $55,000.

MYTH: Students were not informed about the new charge!

FACT: Many efforts were made to inform students about the new charge. Flyers were posted in labs and around campus, and ads were published in the Mustang Daily. There were also articles in the Mustang Daily about the new printing fee, and Cal Poly TV did a story on it as well. The PolyCard Customer Service continues to seek better ways to inform students, faculty, and staff on upcoming changes as new privileges are added to the PolyCard program, such as Rec Center Door Access (Implemented May 22, 2000).

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