I have just done the university equivalent of school shopping. When I was at school, though, I always used to keep what I had to save, unless it was broken or I genuinely needed a new version.
Those days are behind me, I used to but no more. They did have a backpack drive at work, a school gives them lists of what is needed along with the backpacks for kids from impoverished families. I bought some supplies for that. They have a sales tax free weekend in Ohio for school supplies and that is when I bought things for that.