MCAD uses a print management solution, called PaperCut, to monitor, manage, and collect payment for the college's printing as well as reduce waste, and raise awareness about sustainable and responsible printing practices.
Most colleges and educational institutions all over the world are using this kind of technology to reduce waste and educate students to make responsible decisions.
Goals:
_ Monitor printing practices
_ Manage individual user printing accounts
_ Allocate a standardized amount of 'free' prints to each user account per academic year
_ Allow users to re-value their accounts and pay for printing out of pocket after using their 'free' allotment
_ Offer discounts for duplex printing
_ Allow users to print to networked copiers/multifunction devices
_ Allow users to see personalized environmental impact summaries based on paper use
_ Allow users to see print and cost summaries before files are printed
_ Allow users to release files from anywhere on campus
_ Allow non-domain (personal) laptops to print to campus printers
How does it work?
Any time you print to one of the college's public printers, your file passes through the PaperCut server. It is logged based on size, quantity, and username, and held for release. Most of what PaperCut does is behind the scenes and is completely unobtrusive for the end user.
Students
All students have their own individual print accounts accessible at papercut.mcad.edu. Each year on August 1st your account will automatically have $10 added to it. Whenever you release a file to a printer, your account will be deducted accordingly (you are not charged for prints until they are released to a printer). Some printers in the Service Bureau (like the SB-ImagePress-Color) are managed by SB staff and files sent to those printers will be charged to your account manually. If you use up all of your balance you can revalue your account with a credit or debit card at any time by clicking on the 'add credit' link on your PaperCut page. You can also buy MCAD PaperCut Cards for $2.50, $5, $10, $30, $50, and $100 in the Art Cellar.
**NOTE**
Your account balance will carry over year-to-year until you withdraw or graduate (or as long as you have an official MCAD Login ID). If you have a balance in your account on August 1st, the $10 credit will be added on to your current balance. Once a student does withdraw or graduate, remaining account balances cannot be dispersed and will expire.
Faculty and Staff
All faculty and staff have their own individual accounts as well, but when you print your prints are automatically logged and charged back to a group department account. You will still be able to log into papercut.mcad.edu to release prints and look at your print history. At the end of each month your department head or chair will receive a statement detailing all of the prints charged to their department account.
For personal printing needs, you will need to add value to your personal account by purchasing a MCAD PaperCut Card in the Art Cellar and redeeming it at papercut.mcad.edu. You will then need to print in the Service Bureau to have SB staff manually charge your personal account.
NOTE: If you need to have prints or copies charged to a department other than your regular one, you will need to send your files to the Service Bureau (service_bureau@mcad.edu) for output so we can manually charge the proper department.
The Official Print Technology Access Policy can be viewed here.