University of Connecticut students are being provided up to 15 pages of free printing from Nov. 29 through Dec. 19 and between 25 to 30 free pages throughout the entire spring semester through the Undergraduate Student Government’s Academic Affairs Committee.
Academic Affairs, led by interim director Dalton Hawie, compiled a list of the entire undergraduate student population at UConn and divided that by their budget to get 15 free pages per student. All WEPA printers are located in Homer Babbidge, Wilbur Cross, the Student Union and the W. B. Young Building.
Students must select their WEPA balance when they pay, according to Hawie, because the funds have been added to their account by USG. For those with additional questions, USG’s Instagram Linktree and the ITS website have guides on how to access the funds.
“The funding for those pages was transferred to the WEPA balances of all undergraduates at UConn, so while it may appear as if money is being deducted from your WEPA balance, the funding actually came straight from USG,” Hawie said in an email. “Students should make sure that when they go to print they select to pay using their WEPA balance which should have funds ready to go.”
USG has an unprecedented amount of money this year. This is largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic which prevented large-scale events and projects, while students paid the same amount in student activity fees. Husky Print is not a new initiative, but Hawie said this large budget was a reason for its expansion.
“In the past, Husky Print was only for a limited duration and there was often a lot of discussion about when it should be held during the semester. After taking a look at our budget, I decided we should expand. Our committee collectively decided that we should make Husky Print a semester-long service rather than a limited-time event,” Hawie said.
Hawie said although free printing during finals week works well, spring semester will see Husky Print expand even further.
“We got off to a late start this semester, which is why free printing is only for the last few weeks, but this coincides nicely with finals week. For next semester we will have free printing —between 25-30 pages —for the entire spring [semester],” Hawie said.
