This study looks closely at how many and which students are using 3D printers at their colleges, or other locales, and how much they are using them. The report also presents their opinions on the value to them of 3D printers and their level of awareness of their availability in their academic libraries. The report helps college and university officials to estimate the current and likely future level of demand for 3D printing, and the source of the likely demand. It is also a highly useful aid in planning marketing or information literacy aids aimed at current or prospective users of 3D printers in colleges or universities. Data in the repost is based on a representative sample of 1076 college students from 4-Year colleges in the USA.
Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
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46% of students majoring in engineering/mathematics/computer science had ever used a 3D printer, the highest of any major or range of academic fields in the sample.
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Older students aged 26 to 35 were much more likely than others to find a 3D printer valuable or very valuable.
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Students raised abroad used 3D printers three times as much as students raised in the United States.
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More than 64% of students from the lowest income strata were unaware if their academic libraries offered a 3D printer.
Data in the report is broken out by more than 20 personal and institutional variables, so, for example, readers can get specific data on 3D printer use by first year students vs. juniors or seniors, or for students in level 1 research universities vs. doctoral institutions, or for male vs. female or vs. transgender students, or for business/economics majors vs fine arts majors, etc., etc.
Breakouts include age, year of school standing, major or intended major, religion, gender, sexual orientation, income level, SAT/ACT scores, college grades, regional origins, race/ethnicity, level of school tuition, size of school of institution attended and many other variables. This is a critical resource for policy makers in government and in universities and colleges as well as a unique data source for social scientists and other studying higher education and information technology.