Orgeon State University has outlined the what they see as the advantages of publishing Theses and Dissertations as electronic pdfs on http://oregonstate.edu/dept/grad_school/current/thesis_faq.php
They include:
Broader exposure of graduate student research through greater accessibility via the World Wide Web. Research is accessible to any potential reader every day at any time;
Opportunities to use new forms of creative scholarship through use of interactive elements, multimedia, hyperlinks, etc.;
Ability to have a hyperlink to the thesis/dissertation on homepages and electronic CVs;
Professional development experience for graduate students as they learn the basic skills of scholarly publishing in an electronic format;
Conservation of paper and library storage space;
Theses and dissertations more immediately accessible: publication occurs near point of submission rather than many months later.
So, if this is true, why are there not more high education institutions requiring student to create ETDs (Electronic Theses and Dissertations). When I ask this question in a recent department meeting about our on university policy, I was told that it is better done after the thesis or dissertations is complete and send to UMI or other paper conversion and distribution business "many months later." So what is the practice at your college or university?
Low-level work (degree, etc.) which will remain within the institution is relatively easy to do in ETD on a purely technical level, and I know many students who pretty much have to (because of non-printable assets such as 3D or video). I used to take coursework via email all the time.
At PhD level it's extremely rare and not something I can see expanding in the near future, purely because of the document exchange systems in place. All UK PhD theses must be deposited in the British Library in print form, and the majority of examiners insist on printed copies as they're "easier to read". It's normally even more specific than that, with universities setting precise formatting rules (hardback, certain spine lettering, certain trim size, etc.) so they're easier to archive. It's expensive (mine ran to 400+ pages over 8 copies) but the student pays, so the university doesn't much care.
I know we have the notional preservation of PDF/A, but institutional archivists have been burned many times over the last 50 years by supposedly-futureproof media and tend on the whole to take the (rather sensible) approach that paper is paper is paper. PDF/A may have official support for the time being, and I assume in 25 years I'll still be able to open one, but PhD theses are regularly called out of storage after 100+ years. By then I doubt anyone will recognize a CD as anything other than a retro-styled beer mat.