Background

For many years, Net-Print has been Cornell's campus-wide printing service, allowing you to print from anywhere to nearly 200 printers. The system grew and evolved over the years, as these things do, and the seams started showing. In addition, the printers were owned and maintained by many different groups, so availability and print costs were inconsistent.

With input and guidance from the Student Assembly, the IT Governance Council, CIT, and other university stakeholders, CU Print has been developed to replace Net-Print. It will provide uniform (and reduced) printing rates and a free print allocation for all students. 

The first CU Print printers came online for Fall semester 2020 in a pilot phase. Over the course of about a year, all Net-Print printers will be replaced with CU Print printers. During the transition, you may encounter some turbulence. For example, while both systems are active, only Net-Print will support prepaid (credit card) accounts, but those will be added to CU Print once the older service is fully retired.

While Both Services Are Active

If you have both Net-Print and CU Print installed on your devices, you should be aware of some "compare and contrast" details.

• Fall semester 2020 is especially challenging with the efforts to minimize COVID-19 exposure. Not all Net-Print printers are in accessible locations. All CU Printers are being placed where they are publicly accessible.
• CU Print is in a pilot phase, so the printers are not yet deployed in many locations. Current locations include Olin, Uris, and Mann libraries. More locations will be added over the course of this school year, replacing Net-Print printers in the same or similar locations.
• Only CU Print has a free printing allocation (200+ pages per year) for students. If you exhaust your printing allocation, additional printing will be charged to your bursar account.
• CU Print has a lower printing cost.
• Net-Print printing cannot be charged to your free printing allocation. Your choices are bursar billing, cash/credit card accounts, and course accounts.

Selecting the Right Printer

If you have both services installed, you will see many options when you send a document to print and choose a printer.

For CU Print, you will see two print queues:

• CU Print-BW
• CU Print-Color

For Net-Print you will see whatever locations you have installed. This may include one or both of the "Find-Me Queues" along with individual printers.

• campus-bw
• campus-color
• each individual printer locations you've installed