Penny pinching
Printing cost is an inconvenience

Time is money. At TCU, time is expensive and now so is copy paper.

The idea of charging wasteful students for the number of pages they print from university computer labs makes sense. It encourages students to use our resources more wisely, and it saves trees.

The idea of charging students for the number of pages they print from computer labs during class is not only absurd, but it hassles students and professors.

Supporting the concept behind TCU’s new printing policy is easy. Ideally, students will benefit. Less wasted paper means more money for equipment maintenance.

But one can’t help but wonder if TCU was hasty in its implementation of this new printing system. After all, time is money right?

Installing the new ID card system as quickly as possible offers the university the opportunity to begin saving money right away.
But the question now is this: At what cost are students and faculty paying to pinch that penny?

The truth about the real world is that almost nothing is free. But on a campus where taking one class can cost as much as one month’s rent, shouldn’t paper be free, especially if those pages are produced in the educational setting of a class lab?

It remains to be seen just how much time and energy students and faculty will have to devote to this new printing process, but regardless, any time away from the academic mission of those classes is too much. Students deserve to get the most out of their money and their time.

Too many questions about this printing policy still exist.

Is time for classroom instruction in danger of being sacrificed?

Should TCU have given faculty and students more time to discuss the issue of paper waste?

Is time the only way to tell if the new policy will be an effective way to save money?

Yes. Yes. And yes.

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