In the spring Student Government elections, students were promised campus-wide free printing, but they may get a lot more than that.
Student Body President Ben Meyers created the Free Printing Task Force in May to determine the areas of campus where access to computers and printing is most needed. The results showed that most UF colleges don't have the facilities available to house computer labs for printing.
To solve this problem, Meyers hopes to have new labs built with upgraded features like Apple computers and projection screens, as well as free printing.
"This will make our campus and student resources jump ahead five years," Meyers said.
In the first phase, probable locations for new labs include the McCarty buildings, the law school, the journalism college and the Communicore Building.
Construction could begin sometime this fall and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the spring semester, pending approval by the Activity and Service Fee Committee.
The project would cost about $300,000 - money obtained from last year's Activity and Service Fees, which saw a 15-percent increase.
However, some groups have questioned the sustainability of these labs.
The task force has been working with the Office of Sustainability and Gators for a Sustainable Campus to determine if unlimited printing is a responsible option.
Each student currently has a 300-page printing quota per semester.
Meyers said the task force is now considering options like allocating printing based on each student's schedule.
Under this model, each professor would decide how many pages his or her students would be allotted for the duration of the semester.
"This has become a movement," Meyers said. "It's not going to be done by the end of my term, but we want to start the process now."
