Participant

Question

Why is Educational Discount Just Too much Trouble?

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
March 15, 2023
3 replies
1581 views

Just had a really lame chat with someone at Adobe who took twenty minutes to even respond with huge delays between each question and then who just ended the chat. Over an hour wasted and I found nothing out that wasn't on the website. So can anyone here help?

I'm an individual who works with SEND kids on creative projects and I was looking at how to get an educational licence for CC so I can use it in my sessions for design, video and web work. As I work for myself I have no educational email address or any paperwork. The sessions with the students are 1:1 and can sometimes only be for a few days and at different locations and organisations. The best they could offer me was two CC licences for myself on the usual business rate which is almost £150 per month (which is just the standard option that's on the website anyway), which would be completely unaffordable for me. Or to get each individual student to sign up themselves with their school email address (not really feasible because of the short times and their needs).

Has anyone else in a similar position managed to get a better deal? Or have I missed something? I didn't even get the chance to ask about sponsorship or other ideas. It looks like I might be going down the route of looking at crappy free software as an alternative, which I really don't want to do.

Thanks in advance.

Stop reading here if you don't want to hear me sounding off!

_______________________________________________________________________________________

I've used Adobe products for over 30 years (right from the start) and have spent literally thousands of pounds on their products as well as installing, promoting, supporting and training other people in their software. Pretty much all of my work has been done in Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamwaver and InDesign (even Flash in the old days!). The attitude I got just now was basically, "what can I sell you?" without looking at my needs, and then the chat suddenly ended when it became clear I wasn't going to be a big spender. I was pretty disappointed. Adobe used to be cool. I felt like I was talking to Microsoft here. My students have found creative projects to be lifesavers and ways of getting into careers when others thought there was no hope, so was surprised by this soulless chat (I was assured it was with a human) which had no understanding of how creativity in young people (especially the ones I teach) can be lifechanging if taken advantage of. Plus they'd be spending thousands on Adobe software themselves if they get into the creative sector! This quote on their Diversity and Inclusion / "Adobe For All" page seems hollow.

"Adobe’s unwavering focus on people, purpose, and community has guided our evolution and growth over the past four decades and inspires our employees to make an impact and invent the future. We are committed to using our resources and unique strengths to help build a more diverse and inclusive world that represents and celebrates different perspectives for our employees, customers, and communities.”

— Shantanu Narayen, Chairman, President, and CEO, Adobe"

It felt more like

"We are committed to using our monopoly to screw as much out of creatives as we can in order to grow our business, without even a nod to our real end users' needs".

Even if this is just a case of being unlucky with an operator who doesn't care, I've left with a much lower opinion of the company than I had before.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Kevin Stohlmeyer

Community Expert

@andyo32727552 @Oakeydokey not sure why you are posting under two different IDs but you have two different stories going on. As @Oakeydokey you state that the Creative Cloud is too expensive for you as an individual but as @andyo32727552 you state that you have an existing CC account through another business.

You could easily use that business ID but that would also violate your licensing agreement with both Adobe and perhaps the company you purchased from.

Either way - you have options to consider none of which are getting educational pricing for an individual without proper credentials. I would encourage you, as I stated before to work with the school to see if they can get educational pricing for their school, thereby solving the issue of "sharing" your CC license with students.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

The web site seems to pretty much cover it. I'm not sure what you were expecting? The Adobe reps aren't given the power to override the student rules and cut new deals with educators outside the establishment... you're trying to negotiate a new deal with one of the world's largest companies, with layer on layer of beaurocracy.

A

andyo32727552Author

Participant

@Test Screen Name wrote:
I'm not sure what you were expecting?

I was expecting some ideas or to be passed to somone who could help.

I wasn't trying to "cut a deal" or get any special treatment, just to see if there was more on offer that I knew about. I'd be propmoting them, spending with them and so would the students, ultimately. There was a chance to help or to ignore me and they did the latter.

kglad

Community Expert

is your school accredited by a governmental agency?

if yes, you quaility for an education discount. if not, you do not.

A

andyo32727552Author

Participant

I'm not a school. I'm an individual and work with individual students excluded from schools or in 1:1 settings in schools.

Kevin Stohlmeyer

Community Expert

Just had a really lame chat with someone at Adobe who took twenty minutes to even respond with huge delays between each question and then who just ended the chat. Over an hour wasted and I found nothing out that wasn't on the website. So can anyone here help?

I'm an individual who works with SEND kids on creative projects and I was looking at how to get an educational licence for CC so I can use it in my sessions for design, video and web work. As I work for myself I have no educational email address or any paperwork. The sessions with the students are 1:1 and can sometimes only be for a few days and at different locations and organisations. The best they could offer me was two CC licences for myself on the usual business rate which is almost £150 per month (which is just the standard option that's on the website anyway), which would be completely unaffordable for me. Or to get each individual student to sign up themselves with their school email address (not really feasible because of the short times and their needs).

Has anyone else in a similar position managed to get a better deal? Or have I missed something? I didn't even get the chance to ask about sponsorship or other ideas. It looks like I might be going down the route of looking at crappy free software as an alternative, which I really don't want to do.

Thanks in advance.

Stop reading here if you don't want to hear me sounding off!

_______________________________________________________________________________________

I've used Adobe products for over 30 years (right from the start) and have spent literally thousands of pounds on their products as well as installing, promoting, supporting and training other people in their software. Pretty much all of my work has been done in Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamwaver and InDesign (even Flash in the old days!). The attitude I got just now was basically, "what can I sell you?" without looking at my needs, and then the chat suddenly ended when it became clear I wasn't going to be a big spender. I was pretty disappointed. Adobe used to be cool. I felt like I was talking to Microsoft here. My students have found creative projects to be lifesavers and ways of getting into careers when others thought there was no hope, so was surprised by this soulless chat (I was assured it was with a human) which had no understanding of how creativity in young people (especially the ones I teach) can be lifechanging if taken advantage of. Plus they'd be spending thousands on Adobe software themselves if they get into the creative sector! This quote on their Diversity and Inclusion / "Adobe For All" page seems hollow.

"Adobe’s unwavering focus on people, purpose, and community has guided our evolution and growth over the past four decades and inspires our employees to make an impact and invent the future. We are committed to using our resources and unique strengths to help build a more diverse and inclusive world that represents and celebrates different perspectives for our employees, customers, and communities.”

— Shantanu Narayen, Chairman, President, and CEO, Adobe"

It felt more like

"We are committed to using our monopoly to screw as much out of creatives as we can in order to grow our business, without even a nod to our real end users' needs".

Even if this is just a case of being unlucky with an operator who doesn't care, I've left with a much lower opinion of the company than I had before.

Hi @Oakeydokey in order to receive educational discounts you are correct that you need a .edu or approved educational domain to be a part of the program. You state yourself "As I work for myself I have no educational email address or any paperwork." - that makes you a small business/freelancer not an educational institution.

A question I have is - if you are teaching Adobe products to students at their locations - how do you expect them to use it when you are not there doing 1:1 training? Wouldn't the schools need to purchase the software in order to allow the students to use it?

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