Chris, Photoshop Elements is excellent, and you (or your son) should be able to get it at the educational pricing, no? Academicsuperstore.com has it for $45. I didn't look any further than their site, but there may be even better deals out there if you look. Also, if you call MacMall and ask for the educational section, they may come in even less - they beat AcademicSuperstore's price for Adobe Creative Suite by $30, much to my surprise. Didn't even have to ask them, either.