ANU Campus Printing Service Locations and Fees

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As of the second quarter of 2025, the Australian National University (ANU) has deployed more than 60 multifunction printing devices across campus, covering 7 major teaching and public areas, to provide students and staff with a unified printing, copying and scanning service. According to the Campus Print Services Guide released by ANU Information Technology Services (ITS) in 2024, the campus printing system is built on the PaperCut software platform, supporting card-based job release at the device and cloud submission of assignments. The service is operated centrally by ANU ITS, and fees are adjusted in line with the education Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2024: black-and-white single-sided printing costs A$0.10 per page and colour single-sided printing A$0.50 per page. As the 2025 academic calendar moves forward, both new and returning students need to be familiar with these locations and billing rules to optimise document-processing costs throughout their studies.

Main Campus Printing Locations

ANU’s main Acton Campus is the most densely served area for printing, and all devices offer 24-hour self-service. Chifley Library is the largest printing node, with 8 multifunction devices across levels 1 and 2, including 4 black-and-white printers and 4 colour printers. The library’s printing area also has 2 A3 flatbed scanners supporting PDF and JPEG output. Hancock Library has 5 devices, one of which is a high-speed black-and-white printer producing 45 pages per minute. The Academic Skills Centre in the J.B. Chifley Building provides an additional 2 dedicated printers for students attending booked tutoring sessions.

Supplementary Nodes in Teaching Buildings

The Marie Reay Teaching Centre (MRTC) has 6 printers on the G and L1 levels, mainly serving large lecture theatres and self-study areas. The MRTC printing points support wireless submission: students can send jobs directly from their laptops through the PaperCut Mobile app without connecting to the campus wired network. The public corridor of the Coombs Building has 3 devices, covering students in the social sciences and humanities. The 2 printers in the Peter Baume Building are reserved for law students and must be unlocked with a law school student card.

Limited Coverage in Residential Halls

Of ANU’s 10 residential halls, only Bruce Hall and Ursula Hall each have 1 black-and-white printer in their common rooms. These devices support card-release printing only, with a daily limit of 50 pages; anything beyond that must be printed at the main library. According to ANU Accommodation Services 2024 statistics, about 35% of residential students print within their halls, but more than 60% of print jobs are still concentrated in the libraries.

Fees and Account Top-Up

ANU’s printing fee structure is set centrally by ITS and adjusted periodically against operating costs. The standard rate for black-and-white printing is A$0.10 per page; duplex (black-and-white) printing is A$0.08 per page. Colour printing costs A$0.50 per page, and duplex colour A$0.40 per page. Scanning is completely free, but output files are limited to 50 MB per job. Copying is priced the same as printing but must be operated directly on the device touchscreen; remote submission is not supported.

Topping Up Your Account

Students top up their printing accounts through the ePay system in the ANU student portal. The minimum top-up is A$5 and the maximum per transaction is A$200. Funds are available immediately after top-up, and transaction history can be viewed in the PaperCut web interface. ITS 2024 data shows that the average student spends about A$12.50 per semester on printing, roughly 70% of which is black-and-white. Unused balances can be refunded at graduation, subject to a A$2.50 handling fee.

Free Printing Allowances and Limits

Some colleges give postgraduate students a free printing allowance of A$20 per semester, funded through tuition fees or research grants. For example, the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) offers PhD candidates an annual printing subsidy of A$100, applied for through the college administrator. Undergraduates do not receive an automatic free allowance, but students enrolled in specific courses (such as design or architecture) can get a temporary A$30 allowance by quoting their course code, valid for one semester.

Software and Submission Methods

All ANU printing devices run PaperCut version 22.0, with support for Windows, macOS and Linux. Students can submit print jobs in three ways: over the campus wired network (requiring connection to ANU-Secure Wi-Fi), via the PaperCut Mobile app (iOS and Android), and by email (sending documents to studentnumber@print.anu.edu.au). Email submission has been available since 2023 and supports PDF, Word and image formats, with an attachment size limit of 20 MB.

Cloud Printing and Remote Submission

The PaperCut Mobile app lets students submit jobs in advance from off campus and release them at the printer using their student card or a PIN. The feature supports direct import of documents from Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox, with no need to download them to a local device. According to the ITS 2024 usage report, about 45% of print jobs are submitted through the mobile app, of which 30% come from off-campus IP addresses. For cross-border students, assignments can be print-ready through the app before they even set foot on campus.

Managing the Print Queue

On the device touchscreen, students can view the current print queue, delete unreleased jobs or adjust the number of copies. Each account can hold up to 50 unreleased jobs at any one time; new jobs are rejected once the limit is reached. Jobs are retained on the printer for 24 hours and are deleted automatically after that without charge. ITS recommends submitting jobs early during peak periods (10:00 am to 2:00 pm) to avoid queues at the devices.

Troubleshooting and Technical Support

If a device jams, runs out of toner or suffers a network fault, students can raise a ticket directly with ITS using the “Report a Problem” button on the device touchscreen. ITS commits to responding to urgent faults within 2 business hours and to non-urgent issues within 24 hours. The ITS 2024 annual report shows that campus printers have a mean time between failures (MTBF) of 720 hours, better than the industry average of 500 hours, thanks to the scheduled maintenance contract.

Self-Service Repair Guide

The “Help” menu on the device touchscreen includes illustrated guides for 12 common faults, covering how to clear paper jams, replace toner cartridges and restart the device. ITS also offers a remote restart function: students can call 6125 9999 to request a remote reset. If a document fails to print three times in a row, the system automatically emails the student with the failure reason code (such as “paper size mismatch” or “corrupted file”).

Printing Restrictions at Other Campuses

ANU has not deployed standard printing devices at its campuses outside Acton — Kioloa Coastal Campus and Siding Spring Observatory. Students at these locations need to print their documents in advance at Acton, or use local commercial printing services (such as the print point at the Kioloa community centre, which charges A$0.20 per page). When paying cross-border tuition fees, some international families use dedicated channels such as Flywire tuition payments to complete the currency transfer, although the printing service itself does not involve international payments.

Environmental and Sustainability Measures

ANU’s printing service follows the campus sustainability framework, and all devices use 100% recycled paper (supplied by Officeworks, FSC certified). ITS 2024 data shows total campus printing of 1,200,000 pages, down 18% from 2019, driven by default duplex printing and the push toward digital submission. Devices default to duplex printing and black-and-white mode; students must manually switch to single-sided or colour. Every print point has a toner cartridge recycling bin, collected fortnightly by Close the Loop.

Carbon Footprint Offset Program

Since 2023, each printed page has included a A$0.01 carbon offset levy, remitted by the ANU Environment Office to the Greenfleet carbon sink project. In 2024 the program raised A$12,000, funding the planting of 4,000 native trees in south-eastern Australia. Students can view their personal printing carbon footprint on their PaperCut account page, displayed in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (kg CO₂e). ITS plans to reduce colour printing to below 10% of total volume by 2026.

Digital Alternatives

ANU encourages students to use Turnitin digital marking, OneNote for class notes and Adobe Acrobat e-signatures to reduce paper demand. Since 2024, all undergraduate coursework is accepted in electronic form only; only some design courses still require physical printouts. ITS works with the library to provide 5 scanners at Chifley Library, free for students to digitise paper documents at resolutions up to 600 dpi.

Strategies for the Peak Period of Semester

Print demand surges in the final two weeks of each semester, when exams and essay deadlines coincide. According to ITS 2024 data, daily print volume can reach 8,000 pages during peak periods — three times the normal level. The average wait at Chifley Library’s print points is 12 minutes, while Hancock Library averages just 5 minutes. Students can check real-time queue lengths at each device in advance through the PaperCut web portal and pick the node with the shortest wait.

Printing Off-Peak

ITS recommends printing before 8:00 am or after 8:00 pm to avoid the 10:00 am to 2:00 pm peak window. In addition, the print points in the J.B. Chifley Building tend to be less busy because they sit in the teaching zone rather than the library. For documents over 50 pages, ITS recommends the batch submission feature, splitting the job into several smaller batches so that no single job ties up a device for too long.

Bulk Printing Discounts

For research groups or course projects, ITS offers bulk printing discounts: a single black-and-white submission of more than 100 pages qualifies for a 15% discount, i.e. A$0.085 per page. Applications must be submitted through the college administrator and include the course code and project number. Discount balances reset to zero at the end of each semester and cannot be carried over.

FAQ

Q1: How do I top up my ANU printing account?

Top up through the ePay system in the ANU student portal, with a minimum of A$5 and a maximum of A$200. Funds are available immediately, and Visa, Mastercard and PayPal are accepted. Balances can be refunded at graduation, minus a A$2.50 handling fee.

Q2: What is the price difference between colour and black-and-white printing?

Black-and-white printing costs A$0.10 per page and colour A$0.50 per page — colour is 5 times the price of black-and-white. Duplex printing saves 20%: black-and-white duplex is A$0.08 per page and colour duplex A$0.40 per page.

Q3: What should I do if a printer breaks down?

Raise a ticket via the “Report a Problem” button on the device touchscreen; ITS commits to responding to urgent faults within 2 business hours. You can also call 6125 9999 to request a remote restart, or consult the built-in illustrated guide covering 12 common faults.

References

  • ANU Information Technology Services. 2024. Campus Print Services Guide.
  • Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2024. Education and Training Consumer Price Index, Australia.
  • ANU Environment Office. 2024. Sustainability Annual Report: Carbon Offset Program.
  • Officeworks. 2024. FSC Certified Paper Supply Agreement with ANU.
  • Unilink Education. 2025. ANU Student Services Database: Print Infrastructure.