MPC500 suited for university student?

unless you plan to be making beats away from power all the time, get a 1000 or 2500. More features, More outs, more pads not much extra cost for what you get

It doesn't exactly work like that. Even if you don't plan on going places much, once you have any MPC500 with batteries fully loaded, you'll may find yourself always walking off with it to somewhere else in the house, to a friend's house or wherever, without ever giving it too much thought...