I think the temptation to get something for "free" is far to great for most people to handel, at least an till they become somewhat mature enough to see and care about the bigger picture. That maturity happens at different times, for different people.
Maya does have a learning version, however, you cannot export assets to game engines (not the two I was using) so it becomes useless for a game developers. Students could get some good out of it though ![]()