Research commissioned by Epson has revealed that students in the UK spend an average of £1,000 ($1,228/ €1,124) on printing over the three years of their degree.
As a new academic year beckons, new research has uncovered students’ spending secrets and bargain blunders, and while 68 percent of respondents believing that students have no issues managing their money, over three quarters (78 percent) said that students would never tell a parent if they were experiencing financial troubles.
The research, commissioned by Epson, has unveiled that the UK believe students spend a large proportion of their finances on social activities and night outs, with a quarter believing that university students prioritise socialising over academic work.
Despite this, many underestimate the cost of essential university equipment, with over a quarter of those surveyed believing that printing a 200-page dissertation with colour images costs less than £5 ($6.14/ €5,62), despite the realistic cost of up to £35 ($42.99/ €39.36). On average, respondents estimated that students use £277.44 ($340.76/ €311.97) worth of ink on average over a standard three-year course, however, the actual average could be as high as £1,000 ($1,228/ €1,124).
Charlie de la Haye, communications manager at Epson UK was behind the research and is hoping to recommend how students can save money on essential but costly university equipment.
“Students often associate cheap purchases as the most suitable purchases for them, and while it’s easy to get woo’d into buying a cheap printer at the beginning of your three of four-year university career, this is likely to cost you a lot more money in the long run in order to replenish it with printer ink cartridges every time you run out of ink,” said de la Haye.
“Cartridge-free printing with the Epson EcoTank is a larger upfront cost in the beginning but comes equipped with 88 cartridges work of printer ink, or enough ink to print 14,000 pages, and will spare you up to £1,000 ($1,228/ €1,124) that can be spent on the day to day living costs. Spending money on printer ink cartridges shouldn’t be a concern for students during their university career, and an EcoTank is one way to ensure that printing won’t be one of the financial pitfalls that students may fall into.”
