At the end of each academic year, many New School students scramble to use what is left of their print-point credit before it expires on August 15. Now, with a new year of print-credits, some students would like to see the university’s administration provide alternative ways to use their print points.
Students are allotted $150 of print-points per semester, for a total of $300 a year, which cannot be refunded or reused by student accounts after expiration, according to the University’s Information Technology website. Many students at the school find that they do not take full advantage of this amount.
“I don’t print. Never,” said Emily Spierer, a senior culture and media studies student at Lang. Spierer started using her iPad over a year ago and prefers not to print handouts for class. “I would read these huge packets and they would most likely sit on my desk. It just wasn’t worth my time or the money to go print it, or the paper. I felt like I was wasting paper.”
Other students find alternatives to wasting print-points. Aron Canter, a theater and history major at Lang, uses his leftover credit to print out decorations for his apartment.
“I don’t use a lot of what I have,” he said. “At the end of the semester, I end up printing these giant posters. In my apartment right now, I have these epic posters-one of ‘Saturn Devouring his Son’ by Goya, one’s a Klimt painting, one is a boxing painting. So I end up using [the credit], but not for conventional ways.”
However, many students are unaware of how the print-point system works, believing that their money is wasted when the credit expires. Print-points are an allocation that does not reflect a monetary value, but is an arrangement that hinders students from wasting University resources, according to the University’s Information Technology website.
“It’s not real money, it’s like monopoly money,” said Sam Biederman, the associate director of the University’s communications department. “It’s all in the same pot. Once the credits expire, it goes back to the school.”
But not all New School students feel that the print-point credit amount is too high. Many Parsons students believe that $150 per-semester is necessary, especially for creating large projects.
“I do use a lot of print credit,” said Sohee Seo, a junior in fashion design at Parsons. “I think [the print credit] is a good amount for me as a Parsons student.”
In 2011, the University Student Senate proposed an e-reader initiative that would allow students to opt into a program that would decrease their print-point credit amount in exchange for the utilization of tablets.
Aside from reducing paper consumption, some students believe that using e-readers, such as iPads, Kindles, and Galaxy Tablets, have other benefits, like enhanced portability and organization.
“It is sometimes easier for me just because I’m really disorganized, and I have papers everywhere,” said Zosha Warpeha, a BAFA student at Lang and the Jazz school. “I have been using an iPad for some of my classes instead of having to print out or bring my laptop somewhere. It’s a lot easier to be reading handouts on a tablet.”
Plans for the initiative moved forward during the last academic year, under Katherine Towell, former co-chair on the USS Executive Board, who has since stepped down, leaving the project up for grabs.
But after the USS Executive Board is elected for the current academic year, past initiatives may be readdressed.
“It’s not necessarily dead,” said Jens Astrup, a co-chair on the USS and a student at Parsons. “It’s just stalled, because no one is really behind it anymore. It’s totally possible that someone will take it up.”
Editor-in-Chief | Alexandra hails from Virginia Beach, VA and is a senior in Culture and Media Studies at Lang, with a minor in Journalism. She is interested in both data journalism and innovations in new media. See what else Alexandra is up to on Twitter!
I love what you guys are usually up too. Such clever work and coverage!
Keep up the amazing works guys I’ve added you guys to our blogroll.
I’m really loving the theme/design of your blog.
Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility issues?
A couple of my blog visitors have complained about my blog not working correctly in Explorer but looks great
in Safari. Do you have any suggestions to help fix this issue?
Does your site have a contact page? I’m
having trouble locating it but, I’d like to shoot you an email.
I’ve got some creative ideas for your blog you might be interested in hearing.
Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it grow over time.
Thank you for every other informative blog. Where else may
just I am getting that kind of information written in such a perfect method?
I’ve a mission that I am simply now operating on, and I’ve been on the look out for such info.
Wonderful blog! I found it while surfing around on Yahoo News.
Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News?
I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to
get there! Thanks