Academically priced software

Academically priced software is a software package offered to students and teachers at a substantially discounted price compared to the software's retail price. "Academic Discounts" or "Education Discounts" allow students and teachers alike the opportunity to own the software they need at much more affordable costs. The discount varies and can be as high as 80-90 %.

Academically priced software benefits the student by allowing them to become familiar with the technology prior to using it in a for-profit setting, and benefits the software company because students who use their software while they are in school tend to favor the same software they used in school, when they enter the working world.

Academically priced software is generally identical to the commercial version of the software, except that academically priced software is typically not licensed for commercial or for profit use (i.e. it can only be used in an academic setting). Engineering software will often print with a watermark around the border of a page, noting that the software is for "Education Use Only."

Academically priced software packages can come with little or no printed instruction manual, with the understanding that students using the software will be taught how to use it by professional instructors, and therefore have less need for a printed manual. This provides a cost savings for the manufacturer, who can then pass the savings on to the student. An electronic manual is typically provided in lieu of a printed manual.

Academically priced software is sometimes not eligible for upgrade and crossgrade discounts, though in many instances there are upgrades to the commercial version available as well.