This year, IPFW implemented a pay-for-print plan that upset many students. However, each student begins with $40.00 of credit, or 800 pages, at the beginning of each semester. With 80 business days between the beginning and end of the semester, each student can print an average of 10 pages per day. For some people, though, that will not be quite enough. Thus, here are some ways to use less paper.
Instead of printing articles to highlight and annotate them, use Adobe Acrobat or Foxit Reader.
One of the common reasons students print out a lot of pages is to mark up an article or source for a research paper. However, because most people do not know what parts of the article they will need, they print out the whole thing, only to use a little bit of it. Annotating on the computer, and then only printing out the pages that are needed, can stop this.
Instead of printing essays to hand in, email them to the professor.
Be sure to talk to the professor before you try this, but most will let you email your essays, rather than print off several copies and drafts.
Instead of printing pages to archive, convert them to PDF using Adobe Acrobat or PrimoPDF.
Whenever I have something that I need to print for my records, but I do not want to actually print it and file it away, I make a PDF of the document and save it to my hard drive. I then upload copies of the PDF to my online backup. This way I have the security of an archive without the hassle of paper.
