This report looks at how and how often American college students use additive manufacturing equipment, popularly known as 3D printing. The study gives detailed data on the percentage and kind of students who use 3D printers in the academic libary, in overall university facilities, in their own homes, and in other domeciles – with detailed data sets for use in each of these and other places.
The report pinpoints the extent of use, reporting minutes of use per month, broken down by type of student, by gender, age, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, religión, academic major, income level, school size, tuition level and public/private status and many other variables.
In open ended questions, students discuss how they use 3D printing on campus and their hopes for the development and availability of the technology at their college or university. The study presents data on the type of input materials preferred by students, and at their overall satisfaction level with the provision and quality of additive manufacturing technology at their colleges and universities.
Just a few of this 125-page report’s many findings are that:
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44% of students younger than age 20 have ever used a 3D printer
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Students of Asian or Hispanic origins were far more likely than those of other backgrounds to have used a 3D printer at their academic library.
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11.3% of male students had ever used a 3D printer in their own homes.
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Students raised abroad were also much more likely than those raised in the USA to highly value access to 3D printers – more than 27% believed it to be very important or important.