This is interesting context to my experience at the time. I graduated from high school and started college in 1982. I was keenly interested in computers and electronics, but went to a small college with no engineering program. Yet the people doing cool things with computers were in the math and physics departments, and I majored in those subjects.
The profs all had TRS-80 machines, in addition to terminals connected to the school's mainframe. The secretaries had TRS-80s as well. Given the times, I strongly suspect that the profs had paid for these computers out of their own pockets. Their arguments for why they chose TRS-80 were knowledgeable and solid. They also ran their own cabling around the department so they could transmit documents to the secretary for editing and printing.
The profs all had TRS-80 machines, in addition to terminals connected to the school's mainframe. The secretaries had TRS-80s as well. Given the times, I strongly suspect that the profs had paid for these computers out of their own pockets. Their arguments for why they chose TRS-80 were knowledgeable and solid. They also ran their own cabling around the department so they could transmit documents to the secretary for editing and printing.