rolling backpack vs small luggage for class?

I use a rolling computer bag. It's one of the larger kind. I can fit several text books, an extra chef coat, and a laptop with room for hand tools. I hang my knife roll on the handle to the roller and off I go. I stared using the roller because putting the backpack on and off I kept catching the shoulder strap on my pens and thermometer.

Swiss Gear. I got it at Sam's Club. I went with a cheaper one because I assumed it would get beat up.

Take a look at Chef Pak

i use a tiny knife roll and a plastic, hardbacked notebook when documentation is required (beyond my hand-written index cards).

when i need gadgets (certain pastry classes, garde manger, art culinaire perhaps), i'll bring in my toolbox. otherwise there isn't much room to accommodate luggage in a kitchen lab - often even a toolbox is pushing it.

i highly recommend learning how to travel light in school - unless you want to buy your gear 2.5 times over by the time you leave. and if you need the textbook in class then i suggest you study more before class.

In my town, a lot of the culinary students get kits that the school puts together. For people in baking & pastry they have a roll for knives and a roll for baking stuff. I would go crazy dragging all that crap around in different bags.

Keep in mind that you have to keep it somewhere once you get to class. Travelling light is usually a good idea. Juggling a lot of stuff gets distracting, and trying to store it in a kitchen without enough room is frustrating. The Chefpak mentioned above is designed for people in your situation, and if it holds everything you need, it might be a good solution. I find portfolio style knife bags great. I use the big Ultimate Edge bag. It is a lot less cumbersome to get into in tight quarters than the roll type bags I've used before, and it holds a lot of stuff. Notebooks? Yes. Textbooks? No. A good question is, do you really need the textbooks in class? My knives get Forschner clamshell type guards. Big knives get Dexter slide on guards. Shears have a cardboard and tape guard. Gadgets with guards and handles go into my knife slots, other gagdets, peelers, whatever go into the big mesh pockets in my bag. So far nothing has been damaged.

I'm not a culinary student, but if I were going to school, I would try to carry the same gear that I use in a real kitchen now. I would try to avoid getting a big rolling case unless no other solutions work because I can't handle dragging around and dealing with something that clunky. Everybody's different though.

I'm not sure how practical it is for a student but I bought a 5.11 24hr day pack for my day to day use.  It'll hold some of my small wares (thermometer, spatula, whatever that can stay flat), 2 sets of my chef's whites, laptop, whatever documents for the day and office supplies, and a hydration bladder.  Plus its lined with MOLLE straps (webbing used to attach tactical pouches and other accessories by LEO and military operators) that you'd usually find on chest rigs and vests so its very rugged stuff.  The pack itself is also very modular, lots of compartments to organize whatever you throw in there.  Then I'd carry my knife bag but I'm sure I can find a MOLLE rig to strap it onto my pack. 

The downside though, its easy $150(CAN).