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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

Do most students take a printer to uni?

68 replies

Katiecan · 27/02/2023 13:33

DS1 wants me to buy him a printer for uni. Have any of your DC taken a printer to uni with them? Is it the norm? DS says going to the library to print is a faff and works out quite pricey. Any recommendations for a cheap printer please?

OP posts:

PandaG · 27/02/2023 14:08

Neither of my student children had them. Son did an engineering degree and bought himself a touchscreen laptop and annotated examples sheets onscreen from second year onwards.

openingbat · 27/02/2023 14:11

We bought DS a printer for uni but tbh he ended up hardly using it. Didn't really need to print much out as everything was submitted online and the printer has been sat in my garage for several years!

KnittedCardi · 27/02/2023 14:12

No. Pretty much everything is digital these days. So many students are still being given printers as part of their DSA, but very few, unless with specific needs, seem to use them. Student pages are full of brand new printers for sale. Such a waste.

IkBenDeMol · 27/02/2023 14:12

Current Masters student. the only thing I need to print is my final dissertation, and I will be sending that to Doxzoo or similar.

ApolloandDaphne · 27/02/2023 14:27

I doubt he will need one. I'm an old school mature student and even I very rarely print anything. You can access papers on line, request scans from books from the library and submit work online.

LIZS · 27/02/2023 14:41

We bought one for ds which dd has inherited . It has proved handy rather than essential as library has printing facilities if required.

FannythePinkFlamingo · 27/02/2023 14:47

Mine both did but didn't use them at all. Everything is submitted online pretty much and there are usually chargeable printing facilities in uni libraries if they really need to print something.

Pythonesque · 27/02/2023 14:58

If they're needing to print music, fair enough, but I'd also encourage them to look at what tablet devices others around them are using as alternatives, try them out if they get a chance, and plan towards getting something they can use for digital music if they identify what will work for them. (At the very least they will find out what doesn't suit their needs, and why!) If ongoing printing is clearly needed as part of their course it can't hurt to ask about whether they can all have a printing allowance ...

Similarly, someone needing to print significant numbers of posters to advertise events - wouldn't hurt to enquire eg of student union, if there is any budget for supporting student run events that could subsidise their printing costs.

tribpot · 27/02/2023 15:03

I'm just back from an Offer Holders' Day and noted there were plenty of printers at the uni the students could use if they needed to. As other posters have noted, this has a cost per sheet but compared to the cost of replacement cartridges in a printer, it will be worth it for most. Even at home (where we do have a printer) when ds has had a lot of A-level stuff to print out, we go to the photo shop and ask them to do it, rather than hammer our printer with it.

Comefromaway · 27/02/2023 18:18

Both mine read music from their tablets but dd especially had to have a printed copy for the accompanist (new song each week) and Ds had to have copies for singers he was conducting.

mumonthehill · 27/02/2023 18:26

Will not need one and remember uni rooms are small with not a huge amount of desk space. Ds prints very little, submits all online.

burnoutbabe · 27/02/2023 22:56

eggandonion · 27/02/2023 14:05

One of my daughters prints everything and highlights bits of it, the others don't print much. Different ways of studying.

Yep I just did a second degree and printed everything-got a £99 laser printer 15 years ago which is still going strong.

eggandonion · 27/02/2023 23:00

We had a second hand laser printer, it was ancient. Dd finally killed it. I used one in work which was only replaced because it wouldn't work with most recent windows.

marblemad · 27/02/2023 23:32

Like people have said everything is submitted online, the uni's aim to be quite eco encouraging now and there will be printers everywhere on campus he can put in his code and top up his account to print ie about 10-20p a dbl sided sheet. It can be handy to have your own but not necessary at all.

Pythonesque · 27/02/2023 23:39

Comefromaway · 27/02/2023 18:18

Both mine read music from their tablets but dd especially had to have a printed copy for the accompanist (new song each week) and Ds had to have copies for singers he was conducting.

Ah, that makes sense.

00100001 · 27/02/2023 23:41

Why can't he buy his own printer if he's too lazy to head to LRC?

AndStand · 27/02/2023 23:51

I've found out that my 3rd year uni DS doesn't even have a pen!

Blanketpolicy · 27/02/2023 23:54

Ds is in first year uni. He has a tablet and pencil. The decks for the lectures are available the day before and he downloads to his tablet and then annotates in lectures. He also has a laptop for engineering software etc.

Not all students have tablets/pencils so they use notepads, guess they could print out slides the day before is they prefer hard copy but he says most dont. He hasnt printed anything yet.

Timetable (which changes a lot) is online too. Assignments are submitted online.

lavendery · 28/02/2023 01:13

I like reading hard copy notes so I bought a cheap one myself at uni a few years ago. I think your DS is old enough to buy (even if you're funding) or at least research/pick one himself though tbh

dizzydizzydizzy · 28/02/2023 01:28

I don't think my DD at uni ever uses one. She submits all her coursework online.

TheTeenageYears · 28/02/2023 04:39

DD took half the house but no printer.

Crumpetdisappointment · 28/02/2023 04:43

no,
dd uses the library if absolutely necessary.
older dd asked for one which we got, but never used it!

Oblomov23 · 28/02/2023 04:53

No. Very few will need to print anything/much, rarely, that can't be done on library printer, other than certain individual circumstances above eg a musician /conductor, or a dc with SN who prefers it. Most don't.

sashh · 28/02/2023 05:36

It depends on:

Subject studied
Learning style
Special needs

Since Windows 10 it is more difficult to change the background colour of a word processor so I do print on to blue paper.

When I did my PGCE we had to submit a lesson plan and a LOP - I can't remember the acronym but it was the paper the supervising teacher filled in and I had to submit it on paper in a folder. Bloody pain in the arse.

Margrethe · 28/02/2023 08:07

The universities have printers in buildings all around the campuses and the students use those.

Most assignments are handed in online anyway.

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