Adobe Software for VCU Employees

Here you will find comprehensive details about Adobe software at VCU for all university employees. Additional details for those in different roles such as instructional and non-instructional faculty, administrative faculty and staff, hourly employees and graduate workers, as well as both student and work-study employees.

All new full-time VCU employees automatically receive an Adobe Acrobat Pro license upon beginning employment with the university during their first week (subject to eligibility requirements; see table below). To get started using your VCU Adobe Acrobat Pro software license, please visit the Quickstart Guide for Employees here.

If you need access to additional Adobe apps such as Express, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and others, please submit a request using the VCU Adobe License Request Form here. You will be asked to sign-in with your VCU account.

If you get stuck, if you're unable to sign-in to your account, or if you just have a question that isn't answered here, please reach out to us by emailing adobe@vcu.edu or by submitting a ticket at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/help.

Automatic License Enrollment

All eligible non-student VCU employees will automatically have a new VCU Adobe account created and will also receive an Adobe Acrobat Pro only license once they begin as a new employee within their first week. This account is considered a Managed Enterprise Account and used the Federated ID identity type which requires Single Sign-On through VCU's Central Authentication Service (CAS) portal.

Coverage is provided for all full-time Adjunct Faculty, Faculty, Post-Doctoral employees, Classified Staff, and University and Academic Professional Staff under a cost-sharing program known as the "bulk-agreement".

The following job categories are NOT eligible to automatically receive an Adobe Acrobat Pro license: Hourly, Exempt-Temp Salaried, and Affiliates. Student employees are not eligible for the Adobe Acrobat Pro license. This includes job classes/codes for Student Workers (SW), Work Study (WS), and Graduate Assistants (GA/G9).

If you were previously a VCU student within the last three academic terms (semesters) and you recently became a full-time VCU employee you will NOT be automatically assigned an Adobe Acrobat Pro software license. Please complete the VCU Adobe License Request Form at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/licenserequest.

Requesting an Adobe Creative Cloud License (Optional for Employees)

To request an Adobe Creative Cloud license (an upgrade from the Adobe Acrobat Pro only license which is automatically assigned to most VCU employees), you will need to complete the VCU Adobe License Request Form. The form itself is a QuestionPro survey that requires employees to agree to a set of terms and conditions which can be viewed on this website here.

VCU Employees

This form (available at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/licenserequest) is for both non-student VCU employees AND VCU employees who are taking classes but are NOT primarily a student, i.e. a job code/class other than Student Worker (SW), Work Study (WS), and/or Graduate Assistant (GA/G9). If you submit a ticket to us at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/help or you email adobe@vcu.edu requesting a license, you will be instructed to first complete the VCU Adobe License Request Form to agree to our terms and conditions and provide the necessary information about your role at VCU. Completion of the form is not optional.

VCU Students

ALL Adobe software issues (including requests for access) by non-employee VCU students (people who are ONLY taking classes as a VCU student are NOT an employee of any kind) should ONLY be reported by submitting a ticket. If you are ONLY a VCU student, you do NOT need to complete the VCU Adobe License Request Form for any reason unless specifically instructed to do so. If you are having trouble accessing Adobe software with your VCU Adobe account, please submit a ticket at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/help or email adobe@vcu.edu instead.

What apps/services are included in the Adobe Creative Cloud Upgrade License?

App Name	Acrobat Pro Only	Restricted Creative Cloud	Unrestricted Creative Cloud	Requires Cloud Access
Acrobat Pro	✅	✅	✅	❌
After Effects	❌	✅	✅	❌
Animate	❌	✅	✅	❌
Audition	❌	✅	✅	❌
Behance	❌	❌	✅	✅
Bridge	❌	✅	✅	❌
Character Animator	❌	✅	✅	❌
Dimension	❌	✅	✅	❌
Dreamweaver	❌	✅	✅	❌
Express	❌	❌	✅	✅
Fonts Pro	✅	✅	✅	❌
Fresco	❌	❌	✅	✅
Illustrator	❌	✅	✅	❌
InCopy	❌	✅	✅	❌
InDesign	❌	✅	✅	❌
Lightroom	❌	❌	✅	✅
Lightroom Classic	❌	✅	✅	❌
Media Encoder	❌	✅	✅	❌
Muse	❌	✅	✅	❌
Photoshop	❌	✅	✅	❌
Photoshop Express	❌	❌	✅	✅
Portfolio	❌	❌	✅	✅
Prelude	❌	✅	✅	❌
Premiere Pro	❌	✅	✅	❌
Premiere Rush	❌	❌	✅	✅
Scan	❌	❌	✅	✅
Scout	❌	✅	✅	❌
Spark Page	❌	❌	✅	✅
Spark Video	❌	❌	✅	✅
SpeedGrade	❌	✅	✅	❌
Substance 3D Designer	❌	❌	✅	✅
Substance 3D Modeler	❌	❌	✅	✅
Substance 3D Painter	❌	❌	✅	✅
Substance 3D Sampler	❌	❌	✅	✅
Substance 3D Stager	❌	❌	✅	✅
XD	❌	❌	✅	✅

Licensing Information for Faculty

If you are a non-student VCU Faculty member, you'll receive access to Adobe Acrobat Pro during your first week as an employee of the university. Depending on your role, you may be eligible for an upgraded license to access additional Adobe apps from the Creative Cloud suite of tools at no additional cost to your school/college/department*.

Below you will find a table providing eligibility details for all classes of faculty according to VCU's job class table developed by VCU Human Resources (reference: https://wiki.vcu.edu/display/HR/VCU+E-Class+List).

If you are a VCU Faculty member and you are also taking any credit-bearing courses at VCU (regardless of whether you are taking for credit or auditing), you may not receive access to Adobe Acrobat Pro automatically. Instead, you should complete the VCU Adobe License Request/Upgrade Form to request access to the Adobe software you need.

*VCU has a limited number of Adobe software licenses available for for eligible instructional faculty employees which cannot be exceeded. These Adobe software licenses will be provided at no cost to the employee's school/college/department if they are eligible (faculty job classification/code AND must be teaching at least one credit-bearing course in the current fiscal/academic year). Otherwise, ALL Adobe software licensing for non-student employees is billed at established annual rate.

Faculty Class	Eligibility for Adobe Acrobat Pro	Eligibility for Adobe Creative Cloud
Adjunct Faculty	Automatic licensing for non-student faculty members.	Must manually request upgrade licensing.
Administrative Faculty	Automatic licensing for non-student faculty members.	Must manually request upgrade licensing.
Professional Faculty	Automatic licensing for non-student faculty members.	Must manually request upgrade licensing.
Medical / Clinical Faculty	Automatic licensing for non-student faculty members.	Must manually request upgrade licensing. VCU Health employees must have active affiliation with a VCU academic unit (school/college/department).
Teaching and Research Faculty	Automatic licensing for non-student faculty members.	Must manually request upgrade licensing.
VCU Qatar Faculty	Not eligible under the VCU North American Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA).	Not eligible under the VCU North American Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA).

Licensing Information for Staff

All eligible non-student VCU staff members will automatically receive access to Adobe Acrobat Pro within their first week as an employee of the university. Some employees will NOT receive access Adobe Acrobat Pro automatically.

For access to additional Adobe apps such as Express, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and other apps within the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, all VCU employees must complete the VCU Adobe License Request/Upgrade Form here before access will be granted.

The table below provides details about which job classes automatically receive access to Adobe Acrobat Pro and which job classes must manually request access.

Staff Job Class	Eligibility for Adobe Acrobat Pro	Eligibility for Adobe Creative Cloud
Affiliates	See dropdown below.	See dropdown below.
Classified Staff	Automatic licensing for non-student staff members.	Must manually request upgrade licensing. Billed to business unit at established annual rate and prorated daily.
Law Enforcement Officers	Automatic licensing for non-student staff members.	Must manually request upgrade licensing. Billed to business unit at established annual rate and prorated daily.
University and Academic Professionals	Automatic licensing for non-student staff members.	Must manually request upgrade licensing. Billed to business unit at established annual rate and prorated daily.
Graduate Assistants	Not eligible. See dropdown below.	Only eligible for student licensing. See dropdown below.
Post-Doctoral Fellows	Automatic licensing for non-student staff members.	Must manually request upgrade licensing. Billed to business unit at established annual rate and prorated daily.
Hourly Employees	Must manually request upgrade licensing. Billed to business unit at established annual, flat-rate.	Must manually request upgrade licensing. Billed to business unit at established annual rate and prorated daily.
Exempt Salaried Employees (not including Adjunct Faculty)	Must manually request upgrade licensing. Billed to business unit at established annual, flat-rate.	Must manually request upgrade licensing. Billed to business unit at established annual rate and prorated daily.
Student Workers and Work Study	Not eligible. See dropdown below.	Only eligible for student licensing. See dropdown below.

Licensing Information for Student Employees

All eligible VCU students automatically receive access to Adobe Creative Cloud under the Student Technology Fee. Some VCU students who are also employed with the university in certain job classes may need to manually request access to Adobe Creative Cloud depending on their role (usually full-time employees taking classes under tuition-waiver).

The table below provides details about which job classes of student employees automatically receive access to Adobe Creative Cloud and which job classes must manually request access.

Student Employee Job Class	Eligibility for Adobe Creative Cloud	Eligibility for Adobe Cloud Access
Student Workers (SW)	Actively enrolled students automatically receive access to Adobe Creative Cloud.	Access permitted for most members of this job code/class except for employees of the VCU Health System (Hospital).
Work Study (WS)	Actively enrolled students automatically receive access to Adobe Creative Cloud.	Access permitted for most members of this job code/class except for employees of the VCU Health System (Hospital).
Graduate Assistants (GA/G9)	Actively enrolled students automatically receive access to Adobe Creative Cloud.	May be required to agree to terms and conditions in writing before access is granted. Access permitted for most members of this job code/class except for employees of the VCU Health System (Hospital).
Hourly (H1)*	Must manually request Adobe software licensing. Unless actively enrolled for the current or upcoming academic term, billed to business unit at established annual rate and prorated daily.	Agreement to terms and conditions is required during manual license upgrade requests. Access permitted for most members of this job code/class except for employees of the VCU Health System (Hospital).

*Some student employees begin in an Hourly (H1) job class (typically during the Summer semester) before officially beginning classes in the next academic term (typically the Fall semester). If student employees who join under this job class do not enroll in at least one credit-bearing course before Add/Drop of the next academic term, then their business unit will be automatically billed for the full cost of the Adobe software license they requested at the prevailing established annual rate with the appropriate proration based on the date of their request submission.

VCU Adobe Creative Cloud

Academic Technologies

Adobe Software for VCU Employees

Automatic License Enrollment

Requesting an Adobe Creative Cloud License (Optional for Employees)

VCU Employees

VCU Students