Shapeways Continues to Offer Benefits to Support 3D Printing in Education

Shapeways does more than just offer lip service dedication to education, they put their money where their mouth is and show it off with great pride. Just yesterday, Lauren, a Designer Evangelist for Shapeways posted the list of benefits available through the Shapeways Education Program. This is no promise of a complimentary key ring should you choose to join, but some solid benefits that will truly help support students’ explorations in 3D printing.

First on the list is a 10% discount for students and educators to be used when they print their own models. This discount is good across the 40 or so materials available for printing. In addition, university students who go to Shapeways.com/education and register before November 15 get a printing credit of $25 when they print their own designs. Whichever school has the most students sign up will be rewarded with another $75 in credit.

Shapeways will also be offering up to $5,000 in grants per semester in the form of printing credit to students working to make their projects take shape. The grants require that students undergo a review and a grant application process that is also detailed at shapeways.com/education. For students who want to be more involved in the Shapeways community, they are now offering membership in the Shapeways Crew Student Representative Program. Students who participate in this program are promised exclusive offers and even some free stuff.

Finally, the Shapeways community continues to support education by offering a series of high quality 3D printing tutorials that can take you from introduction to opening up your own shop. These tutorials are great for independent learners or as integrated parts of a classroom education.

Shapeways is no newcomer to the education scene and has been offering discounts and programs to support education for years. Any company worth their salt recognizes that supporting students and teachers is not only a benefit to education but also introduces students, the next generation of users, to their technologies and offerings. It’s a win-win situation and one that is increasingly appealing to educators as they work to keep up with advancing technologies in the face of declining funding.

This is especially true for an organization such as Shapeways that relies heavily upon a broad community of constituents ranging from advanced designers, to students, to members of the general public. In addition to the benefits of discounts and offers through the education program, simply being more connected with the world of activity at Shapeways can open up possibilities as they regularly offer contests and competitions as well as articles that can inspire and inform.

Let us know if you are a student taking advantage of the Shapeways Education Program.  Discuss in the Shapeways & Education forum thread on 3DPB.com