About Creative Cloud Employee Licenses

VCU currently offers three options for employees to gain access to Adobe software. These are outlined below with relevant information provided for each type of license entitlement.

Questions
If you have questions about any of the information provided here, please submit a VCU help request ticket at https://itsupport.vcu.edu (Select the Teaching & Learning > Instructional Resources > Adobe Software category and select the "Ask a question" option.)

Adobe Cloud-Eligible User Migration

As of December 16th, 2022, all VCU Adobe end-users who currently have an Adobe Creative Cloud "restricted" license and are eligible for Adobe Cloud storage and services access must complete the VCU Adobe Cloud Access Request Form located at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/cloudaccess. This form must be completed by May 31st, 2023.

This form is used to ensure all VCU employees who request access to Adobe Cloud storage and services agree to a specific set of terms and conditions related to the agreement VCU has signed with Adobe (our Enterprise Term License Agreement or "ETLA" for short). These terms and conditions can be viewed here: https://adobe.vcu.edu/get-a-license/employees/adobe-cloud-access/

If you are an end-user with an Adobe Creative Cloud "restricted" license you will be notified via email in advance of the deadline to complete the form so your account can be transitioned to an "unrestricted" license.

After the deadline has been reached, all remaining accounts that have not completed the form will be automatically downgraded to an Adobe Acrobat DC Pro only license. If you do not complete the form and your account is downgraded, you will lose access to any other Adobe Creative Cloud apps and tools but you will retain access to Adobe Acrobat DC Pro. 

Named-User Licenses

• Adobe Creative Cloud - $192 per person annually (prorated monthly)
  The Adobe Creative Cloud license includes ALL Adobe Creative Cloud desktop apps by default.
  • To gain access to the Adobe Creative Cloud license, non-Student VCU Employees must first complete the VCU Adobe Cloud Access Request form to upgrade their license at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/cloudaccess.
  • In addition to the desktop apps included with the Adobe Creative Cloud license, non-student VCU employees of unrestricted business units may also gain access to additional tools and features under the CC Express license (this is separate add-on license) such as Adobe Portfolio, Behance, Spark Pages and Spark Video, and other Adobe cloud tools.
  • Business unit Adobe liaisons cannot request the Adobe Creative Cloud license OR Adobe Cloud access on behalf of their end-users. Each eligible end-user must request the upgraded license AND cloud access using the form themselves. 
    
    
• Adobe Acrobat DC - $9 to $18 per person annually (not prorated)
  Under VCU's new bulk-agreement, all eligible non-student VCU employees in ALL VCU business units receive access to Adobe Acrobat DC Pro. 
  
  • End-users who have an Adobe Acrobat DC Pro only license may request an upgrade completing the VCU Adobe Cloud Access Request Form at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/cloudaccess. 
  • Current pricing for the bulk-agreement Adobe Acrobat DC Pro is set at $9 per person per year (not prorated) for the billing cycle ending on May 31st, 2023. This pricing will be reset and reassessed in May 2023 during the annual billing process. 
• Adobe Creative Cloud Express - Free!
  Does NOT include access to all Adobe Creative Cloud desktop apps. 
  • This is a separate license from the full Creative Cloud suite only available to employees who belong to an unrestricted business unit who only need access to the following apps and services: Adobe Premiere Rush (desktop and mobile apps), Spark Video and Spark Pages, Adobe Portfolio, Behance, and Photoshop Express (mobile app; not to be confused with Photoshop Elements which is NOT included in any VCU Adobe license). 
  • Employees may request access as a standalone license or as part of a full Creative Cloud license using the VCU Adobe Cloud Access Request form located at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/cloudaccess. Acrobat DC only users are not eligible for this license, but may upgrade to a full Creative Cloud license and request cloud access to gain access to the features of this license. 

Additional Information

• Each "named-user license" is assigned to a real person by their unique VCU eID. 
  
  
• Requests for a named-user license to be assigned to any type of generic account will be ignored. Use of generic accounts with the named-user license is strictly prohibited under the terms and conditions of the Adobe Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA). Product Specific Licensing Terms for the VCU Adobe ETLA may be viewed at  

• The named-user license account holder may install the software on multiple computers. The software can be actively used only on one computer at a time. When signing-in to a third computer, end-users will be prompted to sign-out of one of the previous two active computers. 
  
  
• An active, uninterrupted internet connection is required to activate the license and use many features of the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop app.
  
  
• All new non-student VCU employee Adobe accounts will initially be provisioned with only the Adobe Acrobat DC Pro named-user licenses. Employees may request an upgrade AND access to Adobe Cloud resources simultaneously by completing the VCU Adobe Cloud Access Request form located at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/cloudaccess. 
  
  
• New non-student VCU employees who need an Adobe license should reach out to their business unit Adobe Liaison. Your liaison will need to request a new Adobe Acrobat DC Pro license on your behalf. Once that license request is fulfilled, you may request an upgrade using the instructions above. To view a list of liaisons, click here.
  
  
• For more information, please visit: https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/enterprise-agreement.