Cat Cash Northwestern is an online system that allows students, faculty, and staff of Northwestern University to add funds to a stored value account and use it to make purchases at participating off-campus retailers and on-campus locations. Printing through Northwestern Print will be an additional location where these funds can be spent.
Funds added to a student’s account are used to pay for printing in Northwestern Print and can also be used to pay for dining at most locations on campus. For a full list of locations that accept Cat Cash for dining please visit the dining website.
Students should use the GET app to add funds to their accounts. Funds added through GET are available immediately for use. Students can check balances, add funds, and look at their transaction history for Northwestern Print and Northwestern Dining on the GET app.
All students have a Cat Cash account by default associated with their NetID and student ID number. All accounts should be active and ready for use. Issues with connecting to your Cat Cash account should be directed to catcash@northwestern.edu
There will be a $10 minimum to add money to a Cat Cash account. Funds added can be used not just for printing but also for dining across campus.
Funds in Cat Cash will roll over across academic years if the student is continuing at Northwestern University.
Cat Cash is not refundable. Your Cat Cash Balance expires when your NetID expires.
Cat Cash can be purchased with a student account on the Northwestern Dining website. Please note there is up to a 48-hour delay on all purchases made through the dining website. Students looking for immediate access to funds should use the GET app.
Students looking for support around Cat Cash should email catcash@northwestern.edu . This email is checked regularly Monday- Friday.
For issues adding value to a Cat Cash account please contact catcash@northwestern.edu and a member of our team will get back to you.
For issues adding value to a Cat Cash account please contact catcash@northwestern.edu
There are two additional options for how students will pay for printing. Some students may have a printing subsidy from either campus or their school with an allocated amount of money from which print costs will be drawn first. Returning students with a remaining balance in NUPrint will get those funds transferred into their new PaperCut account in Northwestern Print before the start of the 2023 Fall quarter.
When a student has no remaining funds either through their printing quota or personal PaperCut account, then their printing costs will be debited from Cat Cash.
Any continuing Northwestern student with a balance in their NUPrint account when Northwestern Print goes live will have that balance transferred to their new account. We expect this balance transfer to be in place by the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year. We regret that we will not be able to provide refunds for any student accounts with funds remaining in NUPrint that will be leaving Northwestern University.
Yes, undergraduate students can and will still have a printing subsidy in Northwestern Print. Other schools or departments may choose to provide this as well.
Print quotas and print subsidies are one and the same. The undergraduate printing subsidy is funded centrally by Northwestern University from a request by the Associated Student Government (ASG). Currently there is no similar printing subsidy for all graduate students. Other schools may provide printing subsidies for students within their school. These subsidies are restricted to devices within those schools.
Yes. From time-to-time schools, departments or program have covered the costs of plotter print jobs related to a class or project by charging those costs to a chart string. This will still be possible in Northwestern Print. Schools will need to request this via a ticket to the Ricoh solutions administrator.
There were technical and security considerations and concerns about providing a credit card option on MFDs for printing and ensuring that security was maintained properly.
This was a business decision that follows the general direction of the University to move away from taking cash for transactions. Providing cash as an option greatly complicates the set up for student printing and may have increased the cost of printing to cover the additional costs associated with processing cash transactions.
Students who are also employees at Northwestern, whether as a grad assistant, or a student job who are then required to print for their job will not be charged for printing. Students will need to be added to an Active Directory group to allow them to print for free as a part of their job duties. This request should start with your school’s local IT support who will coordinate the work with the Ricoh Solutions Administrator.
Yes, the two plotters will be a part of Northwestern Print even though they are not Ricoh devices.
Yes. Public Ricoh MFDs and printers located in all Northwestern University libraries will be a part of Northwestern Print.
If you have more questions about printing documents, or are having problems printing a document, please contact the following:
Information Commons
library@northwestern.edu
(847) 491-7658
Mudd Library Servcie Desk
(847) 491-3361
NUIT Support Center
(847) 491-4357