Goodness-I'm fairly cheap but come on. My hs kids have all needed to print stuff for school at some point!

Yes, libraries usually have printing options (I'm in FL and mine allows 5 free pages for educational use) so if you can get your kid there (or they can get there) do that.

I have a Canon printer I think I paid $39 for several years ago and I spend maybe $50 a year on ink. There are 5 of us in the household so we print often.

amazon sells generic ink cartridges at a fraction of the cost of brand cartridges. Next time, I think we'll get a tank printer - you fill the printer up with bottles of ink. There are ads for them on tv.

OP is making this way more complicated than it needs to be. People give printers away for free all the day on Nextdoor, Freecycle, Craigslist, etc. Use all the time you are spending to ask a million questions about a printer purchase to look for somebody giving one away for free.

Buy cheap ink or learn to refill the cartridges.