IT'S THAT time again -- the beginning of another semester, bringing along with it an increased sense of financial burden for University students. True, increases in tuition, fees and room and board affect some more than others. But hidden costs of attending a public institution such as the University hardly become apparent until classes start.
Every student expects to pay for necessary books for classes. Textbook prices can span a wide range, depending on which departments a student takes classes in or how heavy a course's reading load is. Often, professors assemble course packets for purchase which include materials that are no longer widely available. With prices of textbooks climbing, it is not surprising that many students must pick and choose which books to buy, or that many must rely on the library system's high-demand desk copies.
It is a difficult thing to do, to ask professors to be sensitive to their students' financial needs while selecting materials for their classes. Obviously, neither professors nor students wish to sacrifice valuable content. Some professors are more careful than others, realizing how much students must spend to enroll in their classes.
Because of this, many have employed an alternative to requiring students to purchase such expensive texts or course packets. These professors make use of ITC's Instructional Toolkit. Using Toolkit, they are able to post content for their students to access at no charge. This saves students the burden of paying copyright fees, which are included in the prices of course packets. Documents are readily available in Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word format for easy student viewing.
A major drawback to Toolkit, however, is that reading 100 pages for a single class on one's computer screen can be distracting, unproductive and tedious. What is the obvious solution to this problem? Students can print the documents out. Many professors actually require this. Well, that's fine if you're able to afford so much printer ink and paper. But if not, you're out of luck.
During fall 2002, University students were seemingly unaffected by state budget cuts in many respects. For one, ITC computer labs and library labs provided free printing for students. Then, along with tuition hikes and many other changes, it was announced that all University computer labs would be converted to a pay-for-print scheme. This system was slowly phased in over the next semester in ITC labs, when students were allowed a 500-page free printing quota. Immediately following spring 2003, the pay-for-print system was fully implemented in all labs, making it difficult for students to print all of their materials throughout the course of the semester, and even harder for those without their own computers to access the materials.
Initially, ITC charged 10 cents per black and white page. Last year, Student Council successfully lobbied to reduce that fee to 8 cents per page. However, this is still a bit expensive when a student must print hundreds of pages at a time.
There really is no simple answer here -- the University's budget crisis is not slowly disappearing, nor is it practical to ask professors to dilute their readings in order to make prices more affordable for students. ITC was not available for comment before deadline.
Still, this is not what many who enroll at the University would expect from such a large, prestigious institution. Many of us, especially those students paying out-of-state tuition, are spending amounts comparable to students that attend more highly-ranked private institutions. It seems that, in the future, the University may be pushing prospective students away by not including many "hidden costs" within the fee structure as it used to, and therefore forcing its students to pay for these expenses out-of-pocket. In the end, the burden falls not on the administration or professors, but on the individual student.
With the recent push to make the University more accessible to prospective students with financial need by offering more comprehensive financial aid packages, current students may be feeling that they are paying for much that they are not receiving. My suggestion to the University? As a first step, restore the printing quota system. It prevents printer abuse while at the same time ensuring that students' academic needs go unhindered. Why not make the University a bit more accessible to those who are already paying to be here?
Todd Rosenbaum's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at trosenbaum@cavalierdaily.com.
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