CS5 Student Upgrade

Question

Hi, does anyone know if there is a student upgrade price too, or just a student price to buy design premium in its entirity?
Also, is there a number I can call to ask about a free update since I just bought CS4?

Answer 1

Hi, Mr. Isaacs. Great of you, as Adobe Systems' famed principal engineer, to have replied to this question. You might have noticed that there are a number of other similar posts asking about various CS5 student upgrades elsewhere on the Adobe Forums. Of course you're not in marketing and don't set pricing, and I understand the company's logic as you state it to a point, but the logic seems incomplete. My son, who's now in his first year at an arts high school and for several years has been taking and will continue to take design and publishing courses, received his copy of CS4 Design Premium's student edition for Christmas. (Santa saved like crazy all year.) He will be a student, most probably, for the next 10 years, going through postgraduate. Given Adobe's usual 18-/24-month release cycle, it's also probable that he will see not only CS5 but also CS6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 come out before he is no longer a student. Given Adobe's constant re-engineering his CS4 will have become woefully outdated for new learning purposes in less than half that time. So you might see why I say "incomplete"--the idea that a student would buy a student version, and a couple years later would no longer be a student, is sometimes or even often not the case. On the other hand, I'm guessing Adobe has considerable trouble with professional (non-student) use of these versions, and given the steep discount Adobe already provides on the full student versions asking for upgrade pricing for students might seem a bit of the fisherman's wife. But if Adobe does want students to keep at or near the cutting edge in digital design, and if there might be some profit for Adobe if students were able to upgrade with each or every other new version rather than, because of cost, staying with the same antique version they've been using for years, perhaps Adobe might consider introducing student upgrade pricing. Thanks so much! Kim p.s. You might show off your gorgeous Garamond by adding it to the Forum font dropdown.