Unfair treatment of students from different countires

[usantik]

Hello everyone,

I'm a freshman student of one of the universities in Latvia and I'm studying graphics design. Adobe products, as the most popular ones, are widely used in this university and, as you can guess, there is a lot of work to be done in Adobe software at home in the near future too. The first thing for me to do, when I had my first week at the university, was to get everything ready, including getting all the computer software I needed. Happily, there are some companies that care about students from any country and offer free licenses for students, but when it came to Adobe software I got pretty dissapointed. When you visit the Creative Cloud pricing page in Latvia and click on the tab for students you are left with a little piece of text that says that I should get my license from an authorised reseller in my country. Well, you may think it's ok and I would have no problems purchasing the license from the only reseller with "EDUCATION" mark on them, but when I contacted them, they said that the only license they can offer to me is an EDU license for 300 euros AND it's not available for me as I'm not a legal person. I also tried contacting support with this problem and they couldn't help me as they simply are unable to place an order for me.

A question to whoever is responsible for this chaos- why a student from less economically advanced country is treated worse that others and is almost forced to get the same product as others for much higher price? How your tools would empower me to think creatively and communicate expressively if a student simply can't afford the regular pricing? Is it really that hard to let people buy subscription from your website?

[Nancy OShea]

Sorry for your frustration.   I suggest you contact your school's  administrator and explain your situation.  Adobe Creative Cloud for schools & universities is something they should purchase for you.  And as an EDU, they can get volume license discounts that individuals can't.

Creative Cloud for education | Educational institutions

[usantik]

Well, they do have everything necessary installed on their computers, so I guess there is no problem with that... The problem is that I want to buy a student subscription for myself to study at home or when travelling and Adobe made it impossible for students from Latvia to do it and well, I don't understand why it is like that.

[Abambo]

Isn’t Adobe offereing a subscription at a discounted rate for student in Latvia or is the price to high?

[usantik]

The corresponding page says that in Latvia Creative Cloud for students and teachers is sold only by authorised resellers. And the problem is that these resellers simply don't have personal student licenses available for purchase, so... it looks like they are not offering a subscription with a discount. I will try emailing some other resellers without "EDUCATION" mark on them, but I don't think that it would have any result.

It's just simply frustrating and unmotivating that a student from Latvia or any other country with the same problem is treated worse than others.

Here's a screenshot of the page too.

[usantik]

A little addition to the first post- I won't disclose any more details of the conversation with one of the resellers, but they stated that no one in Latvia will be able to help me with my problem as Adobe still is unable (or just doesn't want to) to configure they system so these subscriptions would be available in Latvia.

So, thanks Adobe for making Latvian students look like they are worse than others and are not eligible for discounts other students got. I guess I will leave this topic as unresolved until the problem would be officially resolved, which is completely unlikely.

[juditt19497277]

The situation is just the same in Hungary. When I talked to them via chat about buying single student licences they didn't even understand the question   I guess they just simply don't realize that:

1. they highly encourage piracy

2. this kind of business policy is basically discrimination

3. Adobe folks! You're running a BUSINESS and you have competitors! Honestly, Adobe programs are replaceable with equally good apps from other companies.

[UrosR]

Hi there,

Being a university professor I believe that I am entitled to a discount.

However, educational pricing is similarly not available in my country - Slovenia. I have problems understanding why not all EU countries are treated in the same manner as this relates to the very same product - Adobe Cloud All Apps.

The educational licence in two neighbouring countries, namely Italy and Austria, costs 19.84 € and 19.50 € per month for the first year, respectively.

On Adobe/SI site I clicked a list of retailers and by one of them I was offered the very same product for an annual fee of 546,57 €, which is roughly +132% higher price. I find it unacceptable.

Does it seem that students and professors in Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, and Latvia are charged more to buy a product or service just because of our nationality or country of residence?

Furthermore, in EU we have legislation that does not allow price discrimination among EU nationals and it clearly states that cloud computing services, such as Adobe Cloud, is one of the areas where there is no possible justification for a price difference (link: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/unfair-treatment/unfair-pricing/index_en.htm).

Thank you for your understanding of our issue. Thank you for your time and efforts to offering a fair pricing solution for students and professors in neglected countries.

Regards,

Uros

[Nancy OShea]

This is a user-to-user forum.  Not a direct pipeline to Adobe. 

I guess this has to do with complicated regional economic and currency issues about which I don't pretend to understand. 

Educational pricing and volume discounts are widely available directly to schools and universities.  Ask your school's administration to contact an educational reseller in your region about getting Creative Cloud for students & faculty to use. 

https://adobedealreg.secure.force.com/PartnerSearch

[UrosR]

Thank you, Nancy, for your reply.

I understand now that this is not the right place for my question.

I have contacted the school's administration and educational resellers in my country. No luck and no solution.

If anyone knows whom I should contact directly, apart from national resellers, please let me know.