I do quite a bit of academic editing of journal articles, proposals, and dissertations, and I find that students and professors of all ages and levels like to use the redundant and etc.
Et cetera (etc.) is an abbreviation that already means and others or and so forth, so the and is unnecessary—and incorrect. For example, Several attempts were made to reposition the satellites, and etc., but the technicians failed should be Several attempts were made to reposition the satellites, etc., but the technicians failed.
In addition, be sure to put a comma both before and after etc. I’ve seen many sentences such as Several attempts were made to reposition the satellites, etc. from the lab. This should be written as Several attempts were made to reposition the satellites, etc., from the lab.
Sherry
Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Sherry’s Grammar List
Everything Language and Grammar 