When he graduated six months later, he bought a monthly subscription to AutoCAD LT for his freelance side projects. It wasn’t cheap, but it was clean. No watermarks. No legal risk.
That night, Leo uninstalled the student version from his personal laptop. He realized that the student license had done its job: it taught him the skills. Now, he was a professional, and professionals use commercial licenses.
Leo opened his laptop—still running his student license.
Mia nodded. “Yes. But the agreement is different. The student license is a gift—a learning tool. It’s like a textbook you borrow from the library. You can’t sell the notes you took in it for profit. The firm has its own commercial licenses. Use one of those.”
She pointed to the watermark. “You cannot use a student license for paid, professional work. It’s not just against the rules—it’s a liability. If a client sees that watermark, they’ll question our credibility. And if Autodesk audits us, the firm gets fined.”
“What’s wrong?”