San Diego State students now have access to the entire Adobe Creative Cloud for a discounted price of $25 for an annual subscription.
The reduced price is thanks to an agreement between the California State University system and Adobe.
“The CSU system has had a partnership with Adobe for many years,” SDSU’s Chief Information Officer Jerry Sheehan said in an email response. “However, the new pricing for students was part of an agreement reached in 2019.”
Although students have to pay a subscription fee for access to the Cloud, Sheehan said staff members will receive the service for free.
In the past, students would have to pay full price for the service or utilize the suite for free on university hardware, according to an email sent by the school.
But on March 18, SDSU launched the OnTheHub webstore in partnership with the SDSU Library, granting access to students, faculty and staff to purchase the discounted Adobe Creative Cloud, among other software packages.
Many students have already taken advantage of the discounted price.
“As of September, we have over 1,100 student users,” Sheehan said. “If you need to design a poster for an engineering class or share a quick photo on Instagram from your phone with a professional filter, the Creative Cloud suite has a tool for you.”
Adobe’s Creative Cloud includes apps such as Photoshop, Lightroom and InDesign. All students will need to purchase the software for the discounted price through the OnTheHub is their SDSUid.
“Personally, I use Creative Cloud to make documents for my club,” computer science junior Jordan Lym said. “Last year, before this was available, I would have to pay like $20 a month, which is super expensive for students. So the fact that they’re offering it for $25 for a whole year is really amazing and I took advantage of it.”
The subscription lasts for a year and must be renewed once expired, according to SDSU’s website.
“Adobe’s software is the foundation of digital content creation used by multiple disciplines, in particular in the creative arts,” Sheehan said. “SDSU’s Creative Cloud licenses give our students direct access to industry-leading desktop and mobile applications. The fee of $25 a year for instructional and/or private use is highly subsidized as part of our commitment to provide access to all students to the tools they need for success.”
Although the price drop was meant to help all students, computer science junior Trenton Green said he knows some majors will use it more than others.
“I can’t say (I’d use it a lot) from a computer science standpoint, but my girlfriend is in graphic design and she uses a lot of Adobe software,” Green said.
