They should be able to afford it on the discount, but even if they can't, whatever application you're using will teach them the concepts. Once you have the concepts down, which application you're using isn't a big learning curve.
I know. that was the standard excuse I heard from all the whiney graphic arts majors who were broke and always asked me to find the latest version of PhotoShop for me off of P2P systems, since they were too busy being artists, after all.
Most of the NLE programs that try to compete with Premiere are essentially the same program with slightly different interfaces. They're almost all a clone of Premiere, to varying degrees. Learn one you've learned them all. iFinish, studio, vegas, premiere, avid, they're all the same to me.