New to Warhammer, debate on wanting to Print

What the title says but there's a lil more.

I am a college student and my local comic's shop hosts Killteam Games which I want to try to join. The issue is that just 5 figurines cost 75 bucks and I'm fairly sure I can go print at a Makerspace if I can figure out STLs and 3D Printing if I put in the time.

The issue I am hitting is that apparently printing figurines is a super controversial thing in the Warhammer community, and I'm wanting to try to avoid issues with that. I did ask my games shop and it seemed okay but I noticed one of the workers who answered my question were taken aside and told to not tell me that it was okay. I really want to get into this hobby, it's a hobby that's fascinated me for years but I only make like 13.50 an hour part time- 75 bucks is about a 4th of what I normally get in a paycheck.

Are there ways to avoid this issue with printing? Are there ways to figure out definitively if a shop is printer friendly, and should I go for printing as someone fresh into the hobby?