Printing Budget

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Overview

Printing (and copying) comes at a cost to the environment, for this reason we implement a virtual print budget to help users keep a track of their impact.

• All students have a virtual balance of £10 print credit at the start of each academic year

  • This is not real money, just a virtual balance

• You will automatically be credited a top-up every three months

• You cannot top-up using your own money

• If your balance is running low, or you are unable to print:

  • Consider whether high volume printing might apply to you

  • Ask another University of Essex student or staff member to print for you

    • Print on another's behalf

ℹ️ Many University resources are available digitally, reducing the need to have hardcopy versions of these resources.

⚠️ All printing is logged, monitored, and subject to a fair use policy. Abuse of the printing service may result in a conduct investigation.

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Print & Copy Costs

The printers will default to print double-sided and B&W (mono) as this has the least impact on the environment and your print budget. They will also analyse print jobs at a page level, and only charge for colour on pages in a document that contain colour.

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Checking your print balance

By logging in to uniFLOW Online and checking your Dashboard, your balance is shown on the left side of the page.

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By logging on to a Printer and tapping Secure Print, your current balance is shown in the bottom left corner.

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ℹ️ If there is no budget shown under Secure Print, or you see the following on uniFLOW Online, then it means that your virtual balance is ‘paused’, which may be as a result of being added to high volume printing. You will be able to print, and this will not be subtracted from your virtual balance.

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Accessing high volume printing

You may need to access high volume printing at various points while at the University.

High volume printing ‘pauses’ your virtual balance. You will be able to print, and this will not be subtracted from your virtual balance.

ℹ️ Staff, and most student staff roles, have their virtual balance 'paused'

Speak to your Personal Tutor if you are concerned about the impact of your studies on your print budget. They can request you be added to high volume printing for the current term.
You can find the name of your personal tutor by logging in to your My Essex student portal. Click on the ‘Education’ tab at the top and your personal tutor will be listed under the ‘Courses’ section. Alternatively, you can ask the professional services staff within your department who your Personal Tutor is.

Speak to your Course/Module Lead if you are concerned about the impact of your course on your print budget. They can request your course/module be automatically added to high volume printing.
You can find the name of your course/module lead on the Moodle page for the relevant course/module.

ℹ️ Students with Dyslexia and Specific Learning Differences (SpLD) will be automatically added to high volume printing.