Copier Printing Costs FAQ

Print & Copy Services is a cost recovery department.  This means that although we do not make a profit, we are expected to recover any of our expenses.  Our main expenses are salary and compensation, equipment purchases, service and support, and supplies.

To recover these costs, Print & Copy Services charges a per use rate for printing and copying that allows us to provide the machine itself, supplies such as paper, toner, staples, and parts, as well as technical and maintenance support contracts, and scanning and faxing capabilities at no additional cost to you.

Printing on copiers, or multi-function printers (MFPs), is charged to Department and Program accounts per use.  A program called Papercut is installed on your computer and the copiers.  When you print or copy, Papercut counts each printed side of paper as a click.  You are only charged once the print is successfully completed (not for paper lost in jams or failed prints).  The Department or Program account assigned to you will be charged for each click at the rate below:

Usage reports and details of billed charges are available upon request.  If you are concerned at any time regarding your charges, please contact Print & Copy Services.

Prints that are run on a black and white copier are always charged at the black and white printing rate, even if the original was a color file.  If you send a color print to the Print Release, it will be charged at the black and white rate if you release it on a black and white copier, but charged at the color rate if you release it on a color copier.

If you charge your printing to more than one account, you will see a pop-up window when you print and when you login to a copier that asks you to choose the account to be billed.  If you would like more information about the accounts that are available to you, or if you are interested in having alternate or additional Speedcharts billed for your printing, please contact the Print & Copy Services Manager.

The per-click costs Print & Copy Services charges include the total costs of printing.  Personal printers are less cost effective per-click for the University when all costs are considered. 

Additionally, when printing is moved to personal printers, the costs recovered by Print & Copy Services (equipment, service, salaries, and supplies) do not substantially go down.  This causes the per-click costs to go up to compensate for the smaller printing numbers.  

Combining our printing use to a smaller number of machines is the most cost effective method of printing.

Toner, staples, and other parts are supplied free of charge.  If you notice that the toner in your copier is running low, please submit a request to Print & Copy Services.  

Standard copy paper is also provided free of charge by Print & Copy Services for copier use only.  It may be requested through the Paper for Copier Use order form.  There are also order forms in that section to order standard, specialty or oversized paper, or cardstock for desktop printers or other uses.

Copiers are purchased, installed, and maintained by Print & Copy Services for no additional cost beyond the per use printing charge.  Due to the high level of use needed to offset the purchase price of the copier, Print & Copy Services may only be able to purchase machines for multiple smaller departments or areas to share. If you are interested in seeing whether your area might be suitable for a new or additional copier, or to discuss changes to your current service, please contact the Print & Copy Services Manager.

Scanning is not charged.  All copiers scan in full color, with the option for OCR on PDF scans.  

Sending a fax from the copier is not charged; however, the faxes that are printed are charged at the standard click rate.

Usage reports and details of billed charges are available upon request.  If you are concerned at any time regarding your charges, please contact Print & Copy Services and we would be happy to review any charges.