Reddit mentions of BICMPF11 - BIC Mechanical Pencil

It's a $70-ish pen. Realistically, that's equivalent to two nights out, if you go to college in a big city. Or, if you're in a rural area, that's three nights out.

When I saw this post, I thought that I'd found the rare college kids that values a relatively obscure hobby enough that he or she makes it a financial priority, and thought it was both endearing and admirable.

But your abrasive comment completely changed my mind!

/s

For what it's worth, I spent all four years of engineering undergrad using a $30 drafting pencil. I used it for another three years after graduation, until the plastic portion of the barrel literally fell apart. I then bought another, identical pencil but for only $10 this time and use it almost daily. That's cheaper than a 12 pack of the standard 0.5mm mechanical pencil, which I guarantee you won't last you a year and, sure as hell, won't last you 7 years.

Assuming you don't get obsessive about it, having good writing tools is much cheaper, in the long run, than buying disposable tools. When you have a quality tool that fits your needs perfectly, you grow to love that tool and, believe me, you won't lose it. It becomes almost like your phone - you always know exactly where it is. And, again trust me, until you've used a writing tool that perfectly fits your needs, you don't realize how much you're missing out on. Writing suddenly becomes a joy and taking notes, completing assignments, or writing essays on exams often ceases to be just an annoying task you have to get out of the way and becomes something you almost look forward to.

No joke, it can really be a life changer.