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Auburn students will get Adobe Creative Cloud for free

Auburn will be the SEC's first Creative Campus

Bryan Lamkin, EVP and GM, Digital Media speaks during Adobe MAX 2017 Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017 in Las Vegas. (Isaac Brekken/AP Images for Adobe)
Bryan Lamkin, EVP and GM, Digital Media speaks during Adobe MAX 2017 Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017 in Las Vegas. (Isaac Brekken/AP Images for Adobe)

Adobe and Auburn will be partnering to offer the full collection of Creative Cloud software to all students beginning this month, making Auburn the SEC's first Creative Campus.

The Creative Cloud family of applications includes Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, among more than a dozen others. A Creative Cloud subscription costs the average consumer $53 a month, though students could get a license for $19 or $29 per month.

Now, Auburn students will get it for free.

Kevin Watson, the information technology manager in the Provost's Office, said the new partnership between the University and Adobe will increase digital literacy while saving students money.

"It's the standard creative tool in journalism, communications, marketing and even business has a lot of footprint with it," Watson said. "Once you add all of that up, you realize the community is spending a great amount on it."

The cost students often have to pay for the software in order to use it in University curricula was one of the main driving points.

"We kind of had to back away from 'What is the University paying currently?' and 'How much is this going to cost us?' and instead look at 'What is this costing the whole community,'" Watson said. "Our students are out there paying $250 a year or $300 a year."

Licenses for faculty and staff are also offered at a substantial discount to departments.

The University of Kentucky, another SEC school, provides students licenses to Creative Cloud software, but it is financed using student fees, Watson said. Auburn is also the first SEC school to centrally fund Adobe software licenses for its students without the use of student fees.

"We're basically paying the same amount the community is currently paying, but we're going to be able to license everybody instead of only 10 percent," Watson said. "What that does is create a standard across the University for a toolset. And from there, our faculty know that that's out there, and we can work that into our curriculum."

Adobe Creative Campuses have popped up across the country at a number of top-tier institutions in recent years. The University of Miami, the University of Southern California, Clemson and Berkley are among the Creative Campuses.

Students can already start signing up at adobe.auburn.edu. If you already have an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, you can merge your current assets into your Auburn University account.

Accounts use a federated login system. Like AUInvolve, Outlook and Canvas, students and faculty sign in using their Auburn email and password.

Watson said it was important that the software was available before classes begin in the fall. That way, faculty can work the software into their syllabi, and students know they won't have to pay for the software.

"Instead of trying to envision how everyone can and should use it, we realized we can't," Watson said. "We just want to make it available and let everyone else come up with cool ways to work."

As part of the Creative Campus initiative, a pop-up Adobe studio will be coming to the Mell Building. Students will be able to collaborate together on Adobe applications and share their work on screens.


Correction: A previous version of this piece stated faculty would also receive Creative Cloud licenses for free. Faculty and staff already receive a substantial discount through the University, but won't be included in this agreement. We regret the error.

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Chip Brownlee | Editor-in-chief

Chip Brownlee, senior in journalism and political science, is the editor-in-chief of The Auburn Plainsman.


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