Student cost too high

SketchUp
1

I’ve been teaching CAD to high school students for more than ten years. The choice of software has always been a difficult one. Finally, two years ago I chose to go with SketchUp exclusively. There were three reasons for this. 1. SketchUp is nearly an open source software, with many plugins available. 2. It is very intuitive for beginning students. Most of my students are single semester only. 3. It was free to download at home so they could do homework.

I was out last year, on sabbatical and now I’m finding there is a charge to students, of $49.00 per copy per year. A price that makes homework impossible in our situation. It simply will not happen and I cannot expect my students to spend that much money. This charge takes away one of the greatest benefits of SketchUp. Is there any way to provide high school students with a cheaper alternative to SketchUp software?

2

SketchUp Make is free for non-commercial work…
but you can’t use the student PRO (?) version for commercial work as well.

3

SketchUp Make is free. Its download comes with a 30 trial period of SU Pro.

4

SketchUp Pro is available to all public schools at no charge through our Statewide K-12 Grant Program. As long as your school is state funded you should qualify for free pro licenses for all of your students. You can see more about this program here; http://www.sketchup.com/education/grants/k-12
Cheers,

5

Yes, but the question was regarding student personal computers at home.

Does the license extend to student home computers as well?

6

The Grant program allows for schools to use SketchUp pro in the classroom, but students are able to download SketchUp Make (The free version of SketchUp) for home use.

7

Okay, I will give it a try.

Thank you.