Information Technology Services at the University recently gave all students a printing bonus, equivalent to 50 black and white single-sided pages.

The printing bonus took effect Aug. 18, and will remain until the funds are used completely.

“Basically all students, there were 25,699 students that got an allocation, [received what] would equate to 50 single-sided black and white pages,” said Josh Von Lehmden, ITS special projects manager.

The prices vary depending on whether a student used color or if they printed single or double-sided, Lehmden said.

“It’s five cents per impression, black and white single-sided; duplexed page is nine cents; 18 cents color and 35 cents duplexed,” Lehmden said.

The printing bonus will allow students to print 50 black and white single-sided pages or 25 black and white double-sided pages, he said.

Printing in color will deplete the printing bonus at a faster rate, allowing students to print 13 single-sided color pages or only seven double-sided color pages.

The printing bonus allowed students a little bit of time before putting money on their BG1 cards, Lehmden said.

“I think in the past, there have been some issues with freshmen coming in and not knowing that they needed money in their BG1 card account to be able to print, so this was an effort to ease the transition,” he said.

This is also a help during the first week when students need syllabuses, said Debra Wells, ITS director of client services.

“It allows them to get their syllabuses printed out over the weekend before school starts,” Wells said.

Freshman Molly Ellerbrock said she liked the printing bonus.

“I think it was a great advantage to us incoming students because we were unaware of how much printing cost,” Ellerbrock said.

This was the first allocation given to incoming students since the priced printing took effect.

Senior Cassandra McDonald said she likes the printing bonus too.

“It’s great. I was able to print all the course syllabus pages out for free,” McDonald said.

Any printing completed will first use the printing bonus funds, and once it’s gone, students will then need funds in their BG1 accounts.

How fast the printing bonus will deplete depends on how much a student prints, Wells said.

For McDonald, the printing bonus is already gone, but for others, such as freshman Brooke Schnipke, who owns a printer, they will have the printing bonus for quite a while.

Ellenbrock said that for her it will last a long time because she will only use it if she absolutely has to.

The printing bonus will stay in effect for students as long as they remain a student and have not used it completely.

Students can learn more at the print responsibly website located at www.bgsu.edu/printresponsibly.