All Eastern students and and employees will have access to the programs. 

According to an email from the University, Eastern was able to secure the Creative Cloud through a partnership with all Illinois public higher education institutions.  

After three years, students will need to re-apply for access annually.  

Adobe products for students can be a luxury to have and some production classes at Eastern require some use of the Adobe products.  

In the past, Adobe products were not easily accessible for students in production classes and many students needed better access to Adobe.  

The students in production classes sometimes used to spend hours on production work at the library. Now, they can spend the time at home working on their projects. 

“I had to use Adobe for my major as a TV video production major, it’s very expensive,” said Bailey Annan, a senior TV and video production major said. “So, it was hard just to like, get my assignments done because it’s like, I had to make time to go to the library.”  

A lot of students learned how to use Adobe in the classroom and now it is more beneficial for the students to access the product.  

“I know how Adobe works,” said TV and video production major Ethan Lozada .”It is like you are taught how to use Adobe because it is offered on campus.”  

It can also be helpful for students in audio production classes and students who prefer Adobe over other free products.  

“So, I’m in all sorts of production classes, whether for video, audio, voice or music,” theatre student Mitch Cox said. “So, when it comes to the Adobe products, they offer a lot of quality with their software, where other software’s don’t have the accessibility and ease that Adobe products have.”  

Since students can access Adobe Creative Cloud anywhere on their personal computers now some wonder why the university could not have made the product available sooner.  

“I don’t need the Adobe software anymore because I’m done with those courses that need it, but like, if I had it, it would have been so much easier to do all of my courses.” Annan said. 

The product subscription was made free for students and employees thanks to a new contract and a lower price for the product. 

“A few things happened that made it possible for EIU to offer Adobe to all students at no additional cost to the student,” Director for Information Technology Service Ryan Gibson said. “First, through a partnership with other public 4-year Illinois universities, EIU obtained a lower price point than was previously possible.” 

Also, the decision was made by Eastern so the university can better enhance support for curriculum and address the digital divide that many students were facing. 

For the students of communication and journalism majors who use the product a lot this has become an easier way to access the adobe product.  

Chandler Smith can be reached at 581-2812 or at cbsmith5@eiu.edu.