If you are a college student and looking forward to attending in-person classes or don’t want to use communal services at college. It’s best to invest in your own printer. I guarantee it would be worth it. It will save you a lot of time and money. There are quite affordable options available in the market so don’t you worry.
There are plenty of printers like inkjet, laser, and photo printers. Inkjet printer is cheap and durable while laser printer enjoys the fame of being fast and reliable. Photo printer as you can guess from the name. They are dedicated to photos. You need to look forward to the printer’s running cost, cost per page, and some other crucial factors so you don’t end up buying the wrong printer. That cost you more in long term.
At a Glance:
Further, we have selected the best printer for college students by keeping in mind the best budget printer, versatility, durability, and speed.
Lets’s have a look!
- Our Recommendation Best Printer for College Students
- HP OfficeJet Pro 8035
- Epson Eco tank ET-4760
- Canon Selphy CP1300
- Brother HL-2350 DW
- Epson WorkForce WF-110
- Brother MFC-J995 DW
- Canon PIXMA TS5320
- Canon PIXMA TR7520
- Buying Guide Best Printer for College Student
- Laser vs Inkjet printer:
- Color or Monochrome Printer:
- All in one printer:
- Size:
- Compatibility
- Final Words
Our Recommendation Best Printer for College Students
Award | Design | Types of printers | Retailer |
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Printer for Students | Best Pick ![]() | Check Price | |
Best Printer for College Students | Staff Pick ![]() | Check Price | |
Small Printer for College | Budget Pick ![]() | Check Price | |
Laser Printer for Students | ![]() | Check Price | |
Best Printer for Students | ![]() | Check Price | |
Best Copier for Students | ![]() | Check Price | |
Best Budget Printer for Students | ![]() | Check Price | |
Best College Printer | ![]() | Check Price |
HP OfficeJet Pro 8035
Best PickPrinter for Students

This unit is built to make your college life easy. It can handle light to medium workload. This all-in-one printer is also a sensible option for home business work.
It’s cost-effective, you can buy it without breaking the bank.HP Pro 8035 is an entry-level midrange machine that can print thousands of pages. You can also save bucks on ink by subscribing to the hp ink program. It will reduce your running cost in long term.
In terms of speed and output quality, this unit has reputable standards. It can print 10 color pages and 20 monochrome pages in a minute. Being a midrange printer all of its features are quite impressive.
Speaking of its design it is a compact device that weighs about 30 pounds. It has a removable tray that makes it extra light and sleek to fit in. You can fit it pretty much everywhere, it can easily be placed in your dorm room.
Further, it offers various connectivity options. Wifi direct, wireless, and AirPrint all options are all available.
Pros
- Low running cost
- Offers borderless printing
- Respectable speed
- Exceptional print quality
Cons
- It has only a single input source.
Epson Eco tank ET-4760
Staff PickBest Printer for College Students

Next, we have eco tank 4760 by leading brand Epson. This printer is enough for all your project requirements.
You can expect all the latest features, big print capacity, speed, and quality prints.
It has wire printing and a capacity of 250 papers, automatic document feeder can handle 30 papers. You can print a large number of prints in a short time. These interesting features will make your hectic college life a lot easier.
You will surely get the ease with its wireless and voice operating system.
Speaking of its design, This printer has a small and lean design that weighs 58 pounds but still manages exceptional quality and volume.
This unit puts forward borderless printing and high precision, and vibrant color. With all these enormous features, it’s also a cost-effective printer.
This printer uses ink tanks, not cartridges. That means you don’t have to worry about maintenance.
Further, the running cost is very low with ink tanks. You can get a cost per page of 0.7 cents. Multiple connections options are available, wireless, USB, and ethernet that you can take advantage of.
Pros
- Reasonable running cost
- Small and compact design
- Light Weight.
- High Precise print quality.
Cons
- Flash drives have connectivity issues.
Canon Selphy CP1300
Budget PickSmall Printer for College

Canon Selphy is a dedicated portable photo printer. It is nearly impossible to find a printer that supports windows and smartphone print functionality on a computer. But Canon’s Selphy made it possible.
It has amazing photo quality. This unit provides vibrant and high precise picture output. You can print aesthetic snapshots to your college or resume photos. All thanks to the homologation functionality of the device.
It uses a sublimation technique to print photos. This unit is able to print 4 inches by 6-inch photos. You need to download an app on your smartphone that serves as a control panel.
Its speed deserves a special mention. It has a very respectable speed for a small photo printer. You can print photos in less than a minute.
Its cost per print is 35 cents that are considered quite reasonable. Moreover, it offers a wide range of connectivity options like wireless, wifi direct, hotspot, sd card, and USB thumb drive.
Pros
- Comparatively low running cost
- Windows and Smartphone support
- Lightweight and compatible
- Vibrant photo prints
Cons
- It doesn’t include a USB type B cable
- It’s a bit noisy.
Brother HL-2350 DW
Laser Printer for Students

Brother is well known for home and office printers and consumers find them very useful. Brother HL 2350 is a low-cost entry-level machine, that uses laser technology for fast monochrome printing besides competitive low running cost is a plus.
It delivers more than its price. This will be a great fit for workgroup assignments. It can print up to hundreds of pages in a month. That’s an acceptable print volume for this price range.
The maximum monthly cycle is up to 15000 pages but it’s recommended to print up to 2000. Within this range, you can’t expect an extended feature set but this unit has a capacity of 250 pages.
It prints fine-quality monochrome prints and greyscale documents. Remember it isn’t designed for glossy prints or images. While its speed is amazing, you can print 32 pages per minute above the bar.
Low running cost is an unusual feature for this class of printer. Although it offers almost all connectivity options like wifi, wifi direct, Air print, Brother iprint for emails, and it connects to a single pc via USB. Ethernet connectivity is not available but with all these options. It doesn’t bother me much.
Pros
- Low upfront cost
- ADF (automatic document feeder) available.
- Pretty fast
- It comes with 700-page starter toner
Cons
- Lack of support for external device
- No ethernet connectivity.
Epson WorkForce WF-110
Best Printer for Students

Epson again made a spot on our list because of its exceptional portable workforce 110. This printer has good output quality with low volume and weight. This feature makes it the best printer for college students and travelers.
This model aims at portability and practicality. The small size and weight of 3.5 pounds allow you to carry it anywhere from class to the office. While you don’t have to compromise on quality. This unit prints high quality, vibrant and crisp output.
The best part is, it uses a battery for cordless operation. You can easily charge it with an AC charger that comes along. Another convenient option is to charge it with a USB via a computer, but the methods affect the charging time. AC adapter will charge it fast as compared to USB.
On full charged battery, it can print 50 color pages and 100 monochrome pages that’s not bad. If you want more, well you can buy an additional battery. Epson offers to add an external battery for longer battery life that gives you an additional 500 prints.
Its surely not a speed demon but it offers standard connectivity options wifi, USB, AirPrint to name a few. Unfortunately, its running cost is not admirable, 9 cents for monochrome prints and 18 cents for color prints are considered a bit high, However, other printers of this class offered by hp or canon have more or less the same cost.
Pros
- Durable Printer
- Excellent print quality
Cons
- Speed is not upto the mark
Brother MFC-J995 DW
Best Copier for Students

You can’t find a better option than this, it’s an entry-level printer with bulk ink capacity that proves to be a gem in the long run in order to reduce running costs. Along with that, it has a reasonable price tag.
This unit has a two-sided auto print feature and can print, scan. These features are rare to witness. Running cost is not the lowest out there but competitive. This model has a unique mix of two features that are convenient and productive. Its good print quality and volume made it a great fit for college students.
Weight 19.2 pounds and has a lean mean compact design but you may find it a bit wider and taller because of its dimension. Because this Investment tank printer includes fixed ink space at the back, at the place of ink cartridges.
Further talking about its paper capacity. It supports 101 sheets and paper handling of 20 sheets but doesn’t support a two-sided auto document feeder. Well, these features are mainly offered by expensive printers.
You can print in a range of hundred to thousand prints, Being more specific its monthly print cycle is 5000 but 1500 is recommended. With a printing speed of 12 ppm monochrome and 10 ppm colors, standard connectivities features, Its an average good printer.
Pros
- Crisp prints
- ADF of 20 papers
Cons
- Low volume
Canon PIXMA TS5320
Best Budget Printer for Students

If you are on a tight budget and want a printer with a reasonable price and good quality prints, photos along mediocre volume then this is the all-in-one printer.
It is a consumer-grade printer that can perform three actions: print, scan, copy, like its Pixma series. It’s not a speed demon, however, provides crisp text and graphics as well as bright and vibrant photos. Boarder-less printing is a must to mention here.
Speaking of its speed, it takes one minute to print 13 monochrome pages and 32 seconds for color prints. That considered the average speed for budget printers.
It consists of four ink tanks and uses only two. One tank contains black ink and the other contains green, red, and blue. Its running cost is not much appreciated although it’s hard to calculate the exact cost estimated by its parent models and predecessor, it would cost about 7 cents for monochrome and 15 cents for a color page. Its cost range is not much far from its competitors.
Moreover, it’s a small, light, and lean machine that you can easily fit in your hostel room. Weigh only 13.8 pounds, which is quite impressive.
It has a paper handling capacity of 200 pages and the feeder can hold 20 sheets that’s quite a figure for a budget inkjet printer. With it, you can expect all standard connectivity options.
Pros
- Voice Activation
- Borderless Printing
Cons
- Lack SD and USB support
- Lack ADF
Canon PIXMA TR7520
Best College Printer

Canon Pixma 7520 is another workhorse, you could rely on for quality and performance. It’s slightly bit expensive than its previous model but it puts forward, exceptional speed, high precise output, and quality photos.
This model can perform four functions: print, scan, copy and fax. Whereas other Canon models of this series lack it. It has a compact design and easy-to-use navigation. LCD is available at the front with a handful of buttons for easy access.
It surely provides more value and features than its price. The paper handling capacity of 200 pages, 100 pages on main and 100 handled by the rear fender. The auto document feeder is a plus with h auto-duplexer with two-side printing. Pretty Convenient features to enhance your productivity.
It excels in print quality, delivers above bar prints and photos. It uses six ink tanks cyan, magenta, yellow, photo blue along with pigmented, and dye black ink.
As I mentioned earlier, unlike other manufacturers Canon doesn’t mention the page yield that makes it difficult to calculate cost per page. But according to an estimate, it cost up to 16 cents per page and 30 cents for photos.
Further, it provides a respectable speed of 13 pages per minute for monochrome and 30 seconds per color page.
This all-in-one inkjet printer offers all necessary connectivity features. All these useful features make it the best printer for a student.
Pros
- Good quality prints
- Lightweight
- Borderless printing
Cons
- Lack Ethernet
- Lack SD Card
Buying Guide Best Printer for College Student
Students print a fair amount of paper during their college years so it’s really important to buy the best all-in-one printer.
When it comes to purchasing the right printer. You will see there are tons of options by several companies. Each unit has its own pros and cons. You need to choose vigilantly according to your requirement.
I have mentioned some factors to consider before buying a printer that you should keep in mind while purchasing. To ensure the most value for your money.
Laser vs Inkjet printer:
This question always pops up while buying the best printer. Sparing the technical jargon, let me explain to you a simple difference.
Inkjet printers are known for being affordable printers especially if you buy a monochrome printer. They deliver excellent result but unfortunately has slow speeds.
Laser printers are known for fast and reliable prints. Although they have a higher upfront cost but running cost saves you big bucks. While print quality can’t beat inkjet printers.
Color or Monochrome Printer:
Students mostly print black and white (monochrome) documents but if you are an amateur photographer or art student who needs color prints then hunt for an inkjet printer for crisp photos. Otherwise, a laser printer is pretty handy or for a tight budget you can purchase a monochrome laser printer i.e Brother HL-2350 DW
All in one printer:
If you are one with extended printing needs then look for all one printer that would be a strong investment in college years. All in one printer model offers four features print, copy, scan, and fax.
A printer with extended features comes with big price tags but I have reviewed the Canon Pixma TR7520 above, which offers all these features at a reasonable cost.
Size:
Student dorm rooms usually have limited space where you can’t afford a bulky or wide size model. It’s really crucial to cross-check the dimension and sizes before buying. Fortunately, the budget printer for students often comes in small size, lightweight, and compact design.
Compatibility
Make sure the printer you are buying is compatible with your pc. Old printers are not compatible with new pc and vice versa. Although now the latest printer offers advance printing options like wireless and mobile printing.
Final Words
Here we come to the end of the list of best printers for college students. I hope this article provided you with the deatiled knowledge and you are clear about next purchase. Good Luck!