While Chris Rolinson is the faculty advisor for The Globe, his input is essential to the content of this article.
Staff members at Point Park University are starting to discuss an idea that would replace the Adobe suite with free applications in a few years. The cost of the Adobe suite and Adobe’s AI policy are sparking this discussion.
However, this does not mean that the university will be moving away from Adobe anytime soon. Instead, several university staff members are considering the possibility of phasing it out a few years from now.
“There is no official motion to stop using Adobe, but instead we are looking at ways to structure a potential getaway from it,” Faculty Chair for the School of Communications Chris Rolinson said. “Nobody has ever discussed ending this like we are.”
Adobe suite programs like Photoshop, Lightroom and Premiere have been an industry-standard in universities, media and art programs for decades.
There are also concerns regarding Adobe’s AI policy. Over the last few years, online discussions have commonly taken place on Adobe Community Forums about Adobe utilizing user projects to train their AI.
“My big concern is that if you’re using the Adobe Cloud Service, which some students do use through the portal, you might be automatically consenting to help develop their AI protocol,” Rolinson said.
A section in Adobe’s General Terms of Use, last updated on June 18, states that they, “will not use your local or cloud content to train [their] AI models except for content that you choose to submit to the Adobe Stock Marketplace.”
However, this does not stop students’ natural distrust of AI. Eliana Holderbaum, a junior multimedia major, does not appreciate the addition of AI to the program.
“I don’t think that [AI] has to do anything to help us if we’re using Adobe,” Holderbaum said. “[I don’t want AI] to do my work for me.”
Aside from the concerns of Adobe’s AI implementation, many people also have concerns with Adobe’s subscription pricing. Access to the full Adobe suite on an individual plan costs $60 a month.
Tim Wilson, associate vice president of IT, said that discussions about the situation are constant.
“There is always a financial discussion that happens between IT and academia related to the cost of deployment and the financial resources available,” Wilson said.
With the Adobe suite requiring a monthly subscription, it’s more expensive than a one-time purchase of an editing or drawing program.
On campus, when Adobe is required for a class, many students resort to exclusively using the computer labs around campus. This is often a roadblock for commuters who do not purchase the suite for their own devices.
“Even with a student discount, it’s the most expensive subscription I have,”
Dakota Nicholson, a junior graphic design major, said.
From Nicholson’s experience, the programs in the suite are not very user-friendly either. “I’m still always having to look up how to do things despite using these programs for years,” she said.
While the Adobe suite is still an industry standard, “Freeware” versions of similar programs exist, such as GIMP, a Photoshop alternative.
“Our faculty spend countless hours making sure the instructional materials selected for a course meet the learning objective needs,” Wilson said. “I am very confident that the faculty are taking every opportunity to ensure the success of students while at Point Park and beyond graduation.”
