Students need to stand behind the Student Association as it fights to keep the $7 printing quota.

On-campus printing is set to switch from a quota system to a pay-as-you-go system where students deposit money onto their OneCards. Students are allocated $7 a semester in printing, a 50 percent drop from last year’s $14, which itself was a drop from the $21 allocated to students per semester in fall 2012 and spring 2013. Before fall 2012, students had unlimited free printing.

The SA Senate used an online survey to see how many and how frequently students use campus printing and found about 74 percent of students rely completely on campus printing for all their printing needs.

Judging by these results, students need NIU to continue the printing quota, but they need to do more to let officials know this. Students can reach out by writing letters to the editor, contacting administrators to share their thoughts or voicing their opinion at SA Senate meetings.

SA Senate Speaker Dillon Domke said many of the survey respondents wanted NIU to provide free printing as an incentive seeing as students pay so much in tuition and fees already.

“With the results that [the SA] has found, we would like to see a continued printing quota paid for by something other than increased student fees or tuition,” Domke said.

Domke said the SA not only wants the printing quota to continue, but it also wants it increased. He said members don’t have an exact number they want it to increase to, but based off the survey results $7 isn’t enough for students. Domke will meet with Chief Information Officer Brett Coryell on Monday to have a more in-depth discussion on the results.

One question on the survey asked, “Should the university continue to allocate funds to provide free printing for students? Keep in mind allocating these funds to printing would not allow for advancement of other technologies (Wi-Fi, computer labs, etc.).” Coryell said if students want to continue the printing quota, he will try and work that into the budget.

“I would be surprised if students valued printing more than Wi-Fi,” Coryell said. “In the end, students should have a voice and that’s more important than my opinion.”

If students want the printing quota to stay the same more than they want advanced Wi-Fi or cell reception, they need to let NIU know. The SA also needs to keep asking for student feedback so it can voice the opinion of the students and try to work with NIU on getting what the students want.