gdanmitchell
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 Re: Canon edu discount worth it? | |
daev wrote:
I don't see how hard it is to discuss the merits of Canon's educational discount program while ignoring my employment status (which as I've stated countless times is irrelevant). Yes I am a student, but you people have no idea what my overall status is, so leave it alone. Thanks, though, for keeping this thread near the top.
I do not have any experience purchasing for myself of my institution (college faculty member) directly from Canon, so I'm sorry that I cannot help you with specific information about Canon.
Some vendors (as differentiated from manufacturers) do offer academic pricing arrangements. I have used these agreements to make institutional and individual purchases (and my students did the latter) of non-Canon product from these vendors. So it might also be worth checking with them directly. If I recall correctly, B&H does have some such academic purchase arrangements for individual faculty and students.
For those who aren't familiar with these things, vendors who deal with academic institutions may offer various kinds of discounts that may include the following:
1. The same sort of negotiated pricing available to any direct purchase account (like corporate discounts, etc.) when a large number of units are purchased. I have been involved in such purchases for hardware and software from a number of companies. (Software discounts are typically MUCH greater than hardware discounts. Sorry.)
2. Formal institutional purchase programs for sales to the institution, as differentiated from sales to individuals associated with the institution. I had direct experience with these from several large technology companies selling both hardware and software. (For example, we had an internal pricing list for two big computer companies that you may have heard of that we used when acquiring computers for offices and labs, etc.)
3. Faculty/Student/(Staff) pricing available on individual personal sales to folks associated with the institution. These prices are not intended for sales to the institution (nor are this as substantial), but instead are for software/hardware for personal use by folks associated with the institution. For example, if you were looking for your own computer to take home with you, etc., you can take advantage of these discounts. This is likely the sort of Canon program that might be available to you as an individual buyer.
4. Some vendors specialize in academic discounts, and you can contact them to gain access to a bunch of hardware/software discounts from various manufacturers. For example, I'm eligible for one in California through which I license the Adobe creative applications and Microsoft products.
(Generally speaking, using institutional purchasing processes (e.g. - departmental, etc. via your purchasing office) to make institutional purchases that are actually for the use of individuals can create job-losing problems for those caught doing it. It can also cost the college/university/etc. their access to the program, and if word gets out it can jeopardize other institutional purchases. After a decades-long academic career, I can heartily recommend not taking that chance! Having said that, I think you are probably asking about the general student/faculty programs that do offer direct sale to individuals associated with an academic institution... which is a very different and entirely legal thing.)
One other possibility: If your university has a photography program, and someone in the program has a relationship with Canon, perhaps they could talk directly with whoever represents Canon about your situation... and then perhaps the Canon rep can work out something directly with you that doesn't involve the university finances at all. Just a thought...
Finally, I read your question as being a pretty simple one, basically:
"Can someone who has used Canon's program for individual students/faculty tell me how much of a discount to expect?"
As far as I've gotten into this thread so far... no one has answered that. (I can't, since I wasn't aware of the program.) One easy way to find out is to ... sign up! And report back to us what you learn! :-)
Dan
Finally a serious word of warning: I know that you are "well-connected" at your university/college and perhaps you have someone in the purchasing office or perhaps your department/program who is willing to somehow let you personally pay for something purchased through official channels. As a person with a long academic faculty career, I really want to warn you and anyone assisting you against doing that. In virtually all instances that would — whether or not you agree — a very serious violation of institutional policies and even the law and you and anyone else involved could get in a whole bunch of trouble. It gets into budgetary accounting "games" that can be spun as evidence of fraud. This can even create major problems for the university as a whole if the news of such a thing gets out. Yes, I've seen it happen. In one case a seemingly innocuous event not much different from what you proposed ended up costing an institution millions of dollars.
I know you don't want to hear this. But I'm being straight with you about a very serious issue, and it is one that I know a bit about... having been the academic senate president at my institution for a period of three years.
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