The university-wide campus computer lab policy giving students unlimited free printing is costly to the UA, but will remain in effect for at least another year.

According to "Computing On Campus," an informational brochure issued by the Center for Computing and Information Technology, university computer labs offer free laser printing. The brochure asks students for cooperation with lab policy in order to lower costs, reduce waste and to conserve printer toner.

The policy permits one copy per document with a maximum of 10 printed pages at a time, said Robert Bobar, Kaibab-Huachuca computer lab monitor and business senior.

Laser printing costs, however, remain high and have not escaped the attention of those responsible for running the labs.

"Paper use is a real issue," said Barbara Hoffman, instructional support computing manager with CCIT.

Although CCIT has no plans to begin charging students for their printer usage, she said, the problem is one that needs to be addressed.

Keeping campus lab printers filled with paper costs roughly $15,000 per year, even though the paper is bought wholesale, she said. This money comes from CCIT's operating budget, which does not include additional costs such as printer toner refills or repairs, she said.

Several possible systems for tracking and charging students for paper usage have been examined in the past, Hoffman said, but no satisfactory method has been found.

"We haven't found anything that isn't more hassle than it's worth," she said.

If a system were developed to track printouts, users would probably be charged through Pocket Money, Hoffman said.

The policy of free printouts has been in effect since the first computer lab opened in 1988, Hoffman said. There are six university labs with printing capability.

Bobar said students sometimes take advantage of the resources and fail to cooperate with the 10-page policy, printing out excessive amounts of material.

"They come in and start net-surfing and print out ungodly amounts."

Kimberly Vermeulen, business junior and another monitor at the Kaibab-Huachuca lab, said on the busiest days, students use about 2,000 pieces of paper in a five-hour period.

The Electrical and Computer Engineering building computer lab uses roughly 1,500 sheets of paper during a busy three-hour shift, said lab monitor Ryan Malone, a junior majoring in English.

Undeclared freshman Tricia Lendeen, who said she uses the computer labs for electronic mail and to print class papers, said she disagrees with the idea.

"It would be a problem for me," she said. "The university is making so much money off of us anyway, they shouldn't be making money off of printing. I don't see why it's a problem."

Jessica Carney, elementary education freshman, said she would still use the university computer labs if she had to pay for her printed material.

"It sounds fair but it would be a pain. I would still come and do it, but not if it was a quarter a sheet or something," she said.