I think the subscription approach is great for students. A student will not mind paying $60 for a 6 month subscription to SONAR Artist since they can abandon it if they move on or keep it for a year and they can actually keep using it. This is especially cost effective for the online student who needs their own DAW at home as they won't be physically present at the school to use school equipment.
I wish I had some brochures to convince the college where I teach that this might make more sense. Also if I move into the Platinum version, can I temporarily cripple my software so that I can mimic the student experience?
Is there information available for institutional pricing? (I teach sound engineering at SUNY Broome)