Do I HAVE to buy Photoshop?
Adobe Creative Cloud comes with a 7 day trial so that you can get a feel for it before committing.
But unlike wireframing tools, Photoshop probably WILL be an eventual requirement for your web design career. (Although Sketch is a popular alternative!) The good news is that Creative Cloud is now a subscription service that costs between $50-75/month instead of ye olde school bulk software that would’ve set you back almost a grand. So hopefully that price tag is a bit easier to swallow when you DO decide to shell out the cash.
A few people have filled out the form on the Adobe website and were approved for an educational discount. We don't have a partnership with Adobe and we're not an accredited institution (one of their requirements), so we can't guarantee a discount for you, but you can fill out their online form when signing up with our address:
http://www.adobe.com/education.html?marketSegment=EDU
Skillcrush
PO Box 1172
New York, New York
10159
Although Photoshop is at the moment the industry standard (which I would recommend you check out eventually), you can get by with some other programs for the time being!
Check out this link for some Adobe program alternatives to find one that might work for you:
Just know that we do not have instruction for these in our courses, you will need to find tutorials to guide you if you're stuck.