Adobe to Offer Deeply Discounted Creative Cloud Licenses for K-12 Schools

Adobe to Offer Deeply Discounted Creative Cloud Licenses for K-12 Schools

In a move designed for "nurturing creativity and creative problem-solving skills," Adobe has announced that they will offer yearly Creative Cloud licenses at significant discounts for K-12 schools and school districts. 

Adobe will also offer professional development and lesson plans to complement the Creative Cloud licenses, which are being priced at $4.99 per year each, with a minimum purchase of 500 licenses per school ($2,495 per year) or 2,500 per district ($12,475 per year). The plan gives students access to the entire suite of Creative Cloud applications, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro, as well as many Creative Cloud services and 2 GB of storage. The program also allows students to log into their personal accounts and work from any location with any device, which Adobe says will allow teachers more freedom in what they teach and assign as students will no longer have to use school computers during class time to work on projects. The new offering will be available starting on May 15 in the United States, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, and India. As technology continues to evolve and become more and more integrated into the classroom environment, it should be interesting to see how educational practices shift, particularly with programs like this. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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33 Comments

So is this why the rates on my CC plan has gone up?

At least they could focus on making a stabile platform that doesn’t crash and runs like half the speed as FCPx before they change rates

LOL adobe is just trying to get the kids hooked early. Give it out like candy so they can milk them for money later in life.

If somebody does a good thing (not saying it is), I don't care why they did it.

What's good in getting kids to help Adobe preserve their monopoly?

What's bad about giving them tools to learn photo retouching, graphic design, video editing, sound editing, animation, web design, prototyping, ...? Skills they can then apply to other tools. Professionals know how to perform a task, not just use a particular program. I've used all kinds of software from competing companies to perform these functions. Having learned with one didn't prevent me from using another. So Adobe and the students both get something. Student versions of software have been around for a long time. Not everything is a Great, Right-Wing Conspiracy. :-/

You've obviously never tried doing production day in and day while switching production tools mid-flight.

If you mean mid-flight in a specific project, you're right, I haven't. But then, I can't imagine that's the norm. I have gone from one company to another and was told, we use ..., though.

Johnny Rico that is a negative way to look at this situation. If a kid learns how to use the Adobe suite well, it can create a Career for them. You know what it is to be able to sustain a family by playing with Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, or After Effects? it is irrefutable that Adobe is the best at what they do. Anyone here hates discounts?

It is negative, Adobe is a shit company. And I do know what it is to sustain, as a full time commercial photographer that will use CS6 until there is a viable alternative (seems like Adobe's monopoly may finally be over in the next few years). I had Adobe nuke my CD key's 6 months ago for no reason, couldn't give me a damn reason. Spent 4 hours on the phone with and had to submit copies of receipts before they'd finally budge. All I can figure from google and their own product forum is that they are trying to force legitimate users off of CS6.

"Adobe is a shit company" but you use their software. Grow up!

...because we have no choice. They have a monopoly in the industry. When was the last time you saw a job description looking for someone well versed in Gimp, or Affinity Photo or Design? Get real.

True but then I don't think that's Johnny's situation. I get the impression he's freelance. If you're working for a company that dictates your software, you wouldn't need to think about costs, CD keys, etc...

Freelance or not Adobe has a monopoly. I'm not aware of any graphics production facility that uses anything other than Adobe products. I too, now, am a freelancer, and when I walk into any production facility I better know Adobe software. There's no choice, unless you're personally handling production from start to finish, you're going to have to use Adobe software at gunpoint.

I understand your point but there's a difference between a monopoly and an industry standard. In either case, you're arguing against your point. If Adobe has a monopoly, they don't need to do this to preserve it.
Anyway, I'm done. :-)

It's actually monopoly AS industry standard.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As greasy as it sounds it's a pretty good idea.

Doesn't sound greasy to me at all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

At those prices, I'm not sure why they don't just donate the software to schools. Teachers are striking because they have to buy their classroom supplies out of their own meager salaries. Obviously this is not a profit generating endeavor, why not just go the final ten feet and make it a donation?

If they have to pay something, anything, for it, they'll take it seriously and try to get their money's worth. If they get it for free, it's more likely to be viewed as a novelty and not fully utilized.

So by your logic, there's no point in kids going to school at all because they're not paying a cover charge.

And a lot of kids do act that way. That's why parents and society need to provide the necessary motivation. But I'm referring more to the school's motivation. Not the students.

I am a teacher and I also pay a lot less than all of you. I pay 24,75€ a year for Adobe CC (so all the programmes). It suits me fine.

Haha for a professional community who loves to complain when people ask them to work for free, there seems to be a real hatred of paying any other business for their services.

Photoshop and Lightroom is 10 dollars a month! If you need to really break the bank and spend the extra 40 dollars on other software then the odds are you are probably being paid for your work in which case the extra 42.99 a month should not be an issue.

If you don't like the price of adobe software, do as Johnny Rico does and bury your head in the sand with old software. You will look a total fool when you cannot open a file in front of a client because your software is so out of date.

Maybe appreciate the fact that you really only need to use Photoshop, Lightroom and Capture One in your day to day process.

The rest of the creative industry of animators, 3D artists and designers is paying a hell of a lot more than you do (https://www.autodesk.eu/products/maya/subscribe?plc=MAYA&term=1-YEAR&sup...) and needs a lot more software than you do. This is the cost of working in this industry. If you don't like paying for software, go and be a plumber.

Let the kids have this one and remember you get paid to take photos and play in Photoshop. Life is not all bad.

C1 Pro and 2 legacy CD Keys of Photoshop CS6? No workflow issue to date until Adobe played games. "You will look a total fool when you cannot open a file in front of a client because your software is so out of date." Your talking to a guy that takes 2 tether kits on location in case one craps out, nor do I even have a reason to open Photoshop on location?

I honestly don't see how using software that works and has been paid for constitutes "bury your head in the sand with old software". The only feature that has been added from Photoshop CS6 to CC 2018 that has ever interested me is improvements to the healing brush tool.

Not faulting your hardware. In fact it would be very unprofessional to show up without hardware redundancies for all of your gear.

Your ability to open newer InDesign, Premiere or After Effects files that are utilising new tools and rely on newer hardware is where you will have problems. Or for that matter, any Capture One session from a new license. I can only guess that you do not work directly with art directors want to see images in their layouts directly on set?

I am assuming you are only using Photoshop and Lightroom from Adobe, in which case your complaint is about paying 10 dollars a month for professional, industry standard software that is regularly updated.

If you bought Photoshop CS6 when it was released in America in 2012, your cost per month is still 13.80 right now. Assuming you run with it for another 2ish years, you will then have gotten the same value for money that you get from the current 10 dollar per month subscription... which also includes Lightroom... and is updated regularly...

That being said, you do you man... Rage against the machine if if makes you happy.

I really don't understand? " InDesign, Premiere or After Effects" I use none of these. Could careless about Lightroom. Capture One stays current and I have no problem loading layouts for creative directors, although from my experience in my region that is the minority of the time anymore. Hell I don't even recall where I said once where CC was a bad value? I was pointing out how they can give it out like candy to keep market share and make money on future return.

Hey but you do you man.

"Haha for a professional community who loves to complain when people ask them to work for free, there seems to be a real hatred of paying any other business for their services."

That's precisely the point. The photography industry is seeing a decline in value from clients (more often seeking free work) so the costs of doing business increase relative to decreasing revenue. While the rest of your post has valid points, your opening was unnecessary.

If money is harder to make, then it's becomes harder to justify spending it.

Wordddd. Kids get on it. I think I was on 7?? When I was in 11th? Had no clue wtf I was doing.

© Happy Madison Productions?? lol.

Johnny Rico. What is negative about giving a discount? I would be upset if I spent $700. on a product and it just stopped working as well and I'm confident that if you reached the right people at Adobe they could easily resolve this issue. Adobe is a Monopoly for a reason. The product is Amazing, so much so that you are still hanging on to CS6. Either Way, an upgrade is due. The creative cloud suite blows CS6 out of the water. Good luck seeing someone take over. Besides the membership is $10./Month for their Photographer Plan. Pretty cheap price if you ask me.

These new prices are great for schools in Europe but what about Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Vietnam. When will those locations receive this same educational pricing? In those locations, schools can't afford the commercial prices on offer. It seems unfair that the wealthy nation's schools get a discount but if you're in Asia you have to pay full price. Doesn't this policy only encourage software privacy?