Before I did any programming, I worked for a state government department. When I needed a program run, I used to take a suitcase of data cards to the state treasury office. They would run the program, which they already had, and a few days later I would, if lucky, collect a load of fanfold printout.
Later, we started using a bureau. There, one would submit a bundle of program and data cards at the front desk and head upstairs to the printer room to wait, with other customers, for the job to print.
As an undergrad student, one would submit cards and, when the job had run in some far distant room, it would eventually print out, provided some social science student hadn't tried to run a job that exceeded the 5 page limit with their SPSS assignment. Fortunately, I found a terminal & printer room that wasn't supposed to be used by undergrads and used it.