Let me back up and change my recommendation for a film camera...if you have never worked with or developed film before, skip medium format (for now at least) and buy the cheapest working (ie. something that has not been abused, trashed, used as an anchor, etc.)35mm slr and matching 50mm prime you can find - I wouldn't concern myself about the brand too much (canon FD, Minolta, olympus,and Konica are all old dead-end manual focus 35mm systems that offer high quality cameras/lenses at better prices 2nd hand than Pentax manual focus gear). Shoot film for a bit, try your hand at developing, printing, etc. If you end up enjoying it and want to delve into it further then consider going the medium format route (I don't want to convince you to spend a lot of money on a medium format camera only to discover that you hate working with film).
As far as doing your own developing/printing is concerned - it is a worthwhile pursuit IMHO. Take your film class and see if you like it - if you feel inspired (and a lot of people do the first time they work in a traditional darkroom) consider setting up your own darkroom at home. If you are content working in just B&W (I dabbled in color - but I never enjoyed it much), the equipment needed is minimal and you don't need much more than a dark closet or bathroom to work out of. Check out craigslist - you should be able to find whole darkroom setups pretty cheap (the bottom fell out of the darkroom market when digital took over - you can find a lot of high quality equipment selling for a fraction of their original cost).
I would recommend that you check out the following web pages to get a feel for the equipment involved:
The Guerilla Darkroom More Lessons From the Guerilla Darkroom
I would also recommend that you go to the library or used book store and get a copy of David Vestal's book "The craft of photography" - easily one of the best books ever written on B&W film photography/darkroom work.
Last edited by DAP; 09-01-2007 at 01:30 PM.