laser cutter works best for chipboard, the chopper 2 for small wood pieces. your school should have some kind of wood/model shop that has table saws etc i use wood mostly for models so actual tools work best. 

for hand cutting chipboard i always use an old-fashioned fixed-blade utility knife, as they are very, very sturdy and the blade never slips or breaks under any normal usage.  invest in a good cork-backed ruler from Fairgate.  Get a nice, large cutting mat from Alvin -- one of the thicker ones.  Also, for quick and dirty models, nothing is faster than hot glue.

Have you tried getting a mat cutter (the kind used for framing)? They're meant to cut thicker material and at precise angles too. Go for the adjustable handheld types; large rail-based cutters are expensive and take up more space than they're worth.

Aside from tools in the shop (band saw, chop saw, various sanders, laser cutter, etc), this was pretty much all I ever needed to build a model ... unless it got really fun (then insert hacksaw, cordless drill, plaster, soldering iron, etc)

For the really small pieces or to hold pieces together ...

For the thicker materials ...

On dremels ...

I don't know how it was at other schools, but there always seemed to be that one guy that always thought that his dremel was the best tool for the job and would always use it, usually between 3 and 5 am, didn't matter if it was to sand down an edge or to cut through a piece of plywood (always brought flashbacks of bad dentist visits).

That said, I'm sure the dremel has it's advantages, but I always thought that with proper planning and common sense you could avoid "needing" to use it in almost every case.

Couldn't have made it through the first week, first semester without using a dremel.  We shared, but eventually people bought their own (and brought in their own bandsaws, etc.).

99% of the models can be made with a knife, material (chip, basswood, etc.) and glue.

Zap-A-Gap + Zip Kicker!!!

Olfa's will annihilate a piece of chipboard.  1 pass per layer, just keep breaking off the blades to stay sharp.  Foam core is the main alternative but  it will dull blades much faster and is harder to glue together

Heavy duty aluminum foil can be useful for quickie models.  You can cut it with scissors, and it does amazingly well by just bending it into shapes.