Students in a jam can now turn to the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) to print documents free of charge.
According to a Sept. 22 press release, undergraduate students can each print 100 black-and-white pages annually during this academic year by emailing their documents to freeprinting@cusaonline.ca. It states that documents must be submitted before 5 p.m. on a business day in order to be ready for pick up at 9 a.m. the following day.
Greer Donaldson, a third-year global and international studies student, said she was hopeful when she heard about the service but disappointed by the submission restrictions.
“I’ve never had a big essay that’s five pages or more that I’ve done 24 hours in advance,” Donaldson said.
CUSA president Zameer Masjedee said students that are pressed for time can look to CUSA for accommodations if the submission timeline can’t be met, as long as there are not too many printing orders underway. But, he added that students shouldn’t assume short notice print jobs can always be met.
Since the inception of the service, Masjedee said two students have submitted print jobs as of Sept. 26. According to Masjedee, the introduction of free printing fulfills part of a major One Carleton slate campaign promise.
“The campaign point was of two parts. One of which was the free printing but the other one was to advocate for less hard copy submission for all faculties,” he said.
Masjedee said Carleton’s Senate is meeting later this month and CUSA plans to propose an increase in the use of online submissions.
“It’s more environmentally friendly; it’s easier for students. It’s a win-win,” he said.
Donaldson said she agreed that online assignment submissions should be prioritized.
“It’s easier for everyone and also cost effective for students and for the school,” she said.
Nicholas Schulz, a third-year environmental studies student, said he prefers handing in paper copies of assignments.
“I don’t always trust online submissions. Something could go wrong,” he said.
He added that he probably wouldn’t use the program since he said there is free printing available for environmental studies and public affairs and policy management students in their respective buildings.
Masjedee said Cat Kelly, CUSA’s vice-president (internal), approached the university regarding sharing the CU on the Go printing software license with the university, but was told an agreement couldn’t be reached.
Kathleen Kelly, the assistant director of operations and planning at University Services, said the university initially said no to CUSA’s proposal for environmental reasons.
“Most people are moving away from free printing, from a sustainability perspective. Including Algonquin College: they have a five-year phase out plan that they are planning on being out of offering free printing either next year or the year after,” Kathleen Kelly said.
Due to the gap in software, CUSA is using its office printer and staff to fill print orders.
According to Masjedee, Carleton pays $14,000-$15,000 annually for the software that allows 25,000 undergraduate students to print through CU on the Go. He said it doesn’t make sense for CUSA to pay the same fees separately for the same students, arguing that it makes more sense to split the cost of the CU on the Go software with the university.
“It really doesn’t make sense why they wouldn’t agree to such a deal,” Masjedee said. “We are hoping to revisit the discussion because they really didn’t provide us with any sound reasons as to why it wouldn’t be possible to implement.”
Masjedee said CUSA is currently looking at a $15,000–$20,000 Konica Minolta industrial printer—the same brand of the CU on the Go printers for future software sharing—that they expect to cost the operating budget $5,000.
Photo by Meagan Casalino
