The University Library and Information Technology public computer labs now charge for printing: 5 cents per black-and-white page.

After 4.2 million laser copies were printed in the labs last year, IT and library administrators this summer decided on the charge to avoid paper waste and to cover part of the printing costs.

All of the Big Ten schools except Purdue University charge students to print, said Charlotte Cubbage, head of the General Information Center at the library.

This fact didn’t console Weinberg senior Lauren Briggerman, who was waiting Thursday for a Macintosh computer at Kresge Computer Lab so she could print her resume.

“We should be compared to the top 10 schools, not the Big Ten. That’s football,” Briggerman said, adding that printing off the Internet yields superfluous pages. “Maybe it’s just me, but every cent counts.”

McCormick senior Ryan Jeffers had just finished using the Kresge lab, which, like those at the Technological Institute and Cresap Laboratory attached to Swift Hall, is operated by IT.

“There are certain things that should be plusses when you’re going to a school that charges 30 grand a year,” Jeffers said. “I don’t feel like the paper situation is so bad that NU is losing money.”

But in IT labs alone last year, the cost of printing about 3 million pages totalled $100,000, according to Academic Technologies Director Bob Taylor.

Taylor said the mounting costs of printing had begun to affect money available for the server, new computers and software.

“Free printing runs a distant fourth place to services for students in those labs,” Taylor said.

While he acknowledged that students who have depended on the labs printing large quantities might need to change their ways, Taylor said it’s a sacrifice they’ll just have to make.

“For less than a cup of coffee, you’re gonna get quite a bit of printing.”