ET the Technology Interface - Wayback
"Use of a PC Printer Port for Control and Data Acquisition by Peter H. Anderson Department of Electrical Engineering Morgan State university Abstract: A PC printer port is an inexpensive and yet powerful platform for implementing projects dealing with the control of real world peripherals...."

Use of a PC Printer Port for Control and Data Acquisition
"Building an 8-bit PC-Based Logic Analyzer by Kyle C. Quinnell Department of Engineering Technology New Mexico State University Abstract This paper presents a way of using a PC computer as a an 8-bit Logic Analyzer...."
Building an 8-bit PC-Based Logic Analyzer:
delabs Notes
A student can also on his own have a small lab in his house and start building and programming to supplement his academic training. You can build your lab from scratch, build your own test equipment. Start Somewhere. Build something and sharpen skills.