Currently, students must pay to print on campus – 5 cents per black-and-white page, 15 cents for colour. Before the summer, student representatives on the Faculty Council argued that these costs make studying less accessible for some students, such as those with ADHD. Many courses rely on online articles rather than textbooks, which means students spend long periods in front of screens full of distractions. Printed materials, they said, make it easier to concentrate.
The student representatives proposed giving each student a “printing allowance” to be more inclusive. They pointed to Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, where students can print up to €50 per semester at the institution’s expense. And the benefits would extend beyond neurodivergent students, they argued: FASoS tutors who have experimented with laptop-free tutorial group meetings reported considerably higher-quality discussions and less use of AI. The representatives also noted that sustainability is not a strong counterargument, given how much energy AI use and cloud storage consume.
The Faculty Council welcomed the idea, though questions were raised about the costs. The Faculty Board suggested starting with students most likely to benefit from reduced screen time, such as neurodivergent students or those with migraine. Student advisors would meet with students individually to assess eligibility. A pilot study will then determine whether this system works and how much the printing allowance should be.
The pilot is set to launch early in the new year, the Faculty Board announced at the most recent Faculty Council meeting. In the coming weeks, the system will be discussed internally with the student advisors.