LAST UPDATED on Tue, Jul 9, 2019: My contact has confirmed that the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Student & Teacher educational discount no longer exists. The Nuance Dragon Education Validation page is still on the official Nuance website, but the link just redirects to Nuance Dragon Home / Professional 15 at regular price. Stay tuned as I try to find out whether there are other options!
UPDATE Note:
It’s been almost a decade since I first wrote this post in October 2010. At that time, the Nuance Dragon Student / Teacher Educational discount was $100 off Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 13 speech-to-text software.
So, if you were a qualified student or teacher, you could get Nuance Dragon Premium 13 for only $99.99 (instead of the regular $199.99.)
Unfortunately, Nuance stopped updating Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 13 in August 2018.
(Right now, the latest version of Nuance Dragon voice software is Nuance Dragon Home 15 and Nuance Dragon Professional 15.)
Nuance Dragon Professional 15 normally costs $300. I don’t think Nuance still offers a student license anymore, but if they did, I’d imagine it would still be for $100.
Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can find Nuance Dragon Professional Individual 15 on sale for $150 off.
DISCLOSURE:
- I currently use Dragon Professional Individual 15. (I believe the education discount only applies to the PREMIUM version which stopped at version 13.)
- This post was originally published on October 27, 2010. I’m in the process of updating it. Click here to jump down to the original post.
- I used Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 when I first wrote this blog post.
- This post contains affiliate links. Read more.
IMPORTANT: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium Student & Teacher Licensing and Education Validation Requirements
I’m not sure if Nuance still offers an educational discount for individual students and teachers. (They offer bulk academic pricing for school labs and institutions, but that doesn’t help us.)
In the past, there was a store item that showed Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 13 Student version, but I can’t find it anymore since they’ve updated their site.
The Nuance website page talking about Nuance Student Licensing is still up and shows that Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium is available as a Student License product, but when you click on it, it takes you to the general info page about Nuance Dragon Professional Individual 15.
(Most likely because they simply redirected old Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium products to the Nuance Dragon Professional Individual product line.)
IMPORTANT: THIS MIGHT BE A DEAL BREAKER FOR YOU
- On the Nuance Dragon Education Validation page, it says that they do not offer refunds when you buy the education edition.
- On the other hand, if you buy Nuance Dragon Professional through the regular shopping cart, you get a 30 day satisfaction-guaranteed refund.
Here is the link to the official Nuance site
- Dragon Student Licensing / Education validation requirements (official site)
What’s the Difference between Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home and Premium (Student & Teacher) Editions?
I use dragon, speak naturally, and have my computer type things down.
- Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 13 and Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 13 Student / Teacher edition are the exact same product – they’re both PREMIUM. (Except, one has an educational discount.
- There is a difference between Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 13 and Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 13 and Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional 13.
- There is also a difference between Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13 and Nuance Dragon 15.
You should also know that there is a newer version of the speech-to-text software. So, Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 13 is old and outdated. Here is a comparison between the latest versions of Dragon.
Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Versions that I’ve bought over the years.
I’ve been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software since Oct 2010. (Here’s a post about me using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 back in the day.)
Over the years, the software has changed. The initial setup out-of-the-box has gotten incredibly easy.
- Before you had to read a bunch of passages to train your voice.
- Now, you just have to read a few lines to check the quality of your audio.
- Then, you go right into a voice tutorial to learn some basic skills, and then you’re off and away dictating into your computer.
Generally speaking, I don’t think the accuracy of the program has changed very much. I can get anywhere from 95-98% of my words transcribed properly by the speech recognition software.
Here are my thoughts on the different upgrades over the years.
Nuance Dragon Professional Individual v15
- I upgraded to this in May 2017.
- I paid $149.99 for the upgrade.
- I haven’t used it much lately because life has been busy, but overall, I’m not seeing a big difference between this version and the previous one.
- The product SKU is K809A-G00-15.0
Nuance Dragon Professional Individual v14
- I got this in Feb 2016.
- I paid $99.99 for the upgrade. (There was a discount of $200.01 applied for the promotion.)
- (It’s nice how they put the version number in the Product SKU): K809A-G00-14.0
Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium v13
- I upgraded to this version in May 2015.
- I had to pay $159.99 for the electronic download. I live in Canada and no tax was added at the checkout.
- I think this was a 20% discount promotion that they were offering.
Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking v12.5 was available for download, and I bought it back in the day.
- Dragon 11 was 97.6% accurate for me.
- Dragon 12 is supposed to be up to 20% more accurate out-of-the-box, but read this post about my experiences.
Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Wireless Premium
- Purchased in October 2010. Here’s a blog post about the purchase.
- Initially, I bought the Education Version online, but then found a better deal, so I cancelled my online order and Nuance gave me a full refund because of their great 30-day money back guarantee policy.
Save $100 by buying the Nuance NaturallySpeaking Dragon v13 Premium Student / Teacher Version
- If you are a student or teacher, you get Dragon 13 Premium for only $99.99 instead of the regular $199.99.
- Note, you have to validate your education status to prove you are a student / teacher.)
Are you a student or teacher?
NOTE: The following information was first published in October 2010 and is kept for reference / archival purposes only. You are much better off using Dragon, speaking naturally, and dictating your blog posts with the latest version of Dragon voice software.
Are you thinking about getting Dragon NaturallySpeaking? Did you know there’s a student/teacher version which is $100 cheaper than the regular premium edition?
Here are 10 things to know before you buy Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium Student/Teacher:
1. You can save $100 by buying the Education Edition.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Student/Teacher ($99.99 USD) is $100 cheaper than the regular Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Version ($199.99 USD).
2.Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Student/Teacher edition is the same software that you get in the regular Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Version.
That’s because they’re both Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium. Nuance sells four different editions of their voice-recognition software:
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Home,
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium,
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Professional, and
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Legal.
There are some significant differences between these four editions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11, but if you’re getting Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium, then the only thing you have to decide is what accessory you want to have bundled with your software:
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Student/Teacher both come with a USB headset.
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Mobile comes with a Philips digital voice recorder.
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Wireless comes with the Plantronics Calisto headset with Bluetooth USB adapter included.
3. The Student / Teacher Educational edition is not available at Future Shop, Best Buy or Staples.
We couldn’t find the academic version anywhere. It seems that you can only buy it online from Nuance.
4. When you buy Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 from Nuance online: yes, you’ll have to pay shipping. No, you won’t have to pay sales tax at the time of purchase. Yes, if you live in Canada you will have to pay custom border fees.
When we ordered the Student/Teacher edition from Nuance online, we only had to pay $99.99 USD for the software, around $19 USD for shipping.
When the package finally arrived in Ontario, Canada, the custom border fees were around equivalent to the sales tax we would’ve had to pay.
5. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Student/Teacher is only available to qualified staff and students.
Here are some of the terms and conditions to get the academic discount from Nuance:
- Full time or part time students enrolled 7 accredited higher or further education institutions including public or private university or college (including community, junior, scientific, technical or vocational college) that grant degrees requiring not less than the equivalent of two (2) years of full time study.
- Students 13 years and older enrolled in accredited public or private primary, secondary, vocational or correspondence school providing full time instruction.
- Full or part time faculty and staff employed by an accredited higher or further education institution, public or private primary secondary vocational or correspondence school providing full time instruction.
We’re not sure why the terms and conditions state that you have to be 13 years and older. If primary school is the same as elementary school, then are students in grade 6 or 7 who are younger than 13 years old eligible to receive the academic discount? Unfortunately, you’ll have to contact Nuance directly to find out, especially since all sales are “final.”
UPDATE Dec 31, 2011: A lot of educational websites require users to be 13 years or older to comply with (US) privacy legislation. Sometimes students under 13 years old can still sign up for accounts if they have their parent’s consent. For example, Prezi allows students under 13 to sign up with parental consent.
Looking at the bottom of the Education Validation Terms and Conditions page at the bottom of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking website and it looks like any student enrolled in a qualifying (i.e. public or private) K-12 school can get the student version. Students under 18 years old simply have to get a teacher to write a note on school letterhead stating that the student is eligible for the academic discount. In other words, if your child goes to a qualifying school (i.e. a public or private primary, elementary or secondary K-12 school, you should be able to get the student discount on Dragon NaturallySpeaking – see #3 under “How to validate your education status.”
If you also look on the North America Academic Eligibility definition page, under 1c. Acceptable forms of identification (for Individuals), it says the following:
For K-12 students only: when the above listed forms of identification is not available, an official letter from a teacher at the accredited K12 institution verifying the student’s right to order software at academic prices
All sales are final for the student discounted version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking so if you’re a little bit nervous about the 13 years old part on the terms and conditions page, click on that “chat now” pop up window when you’re on the Nuance website to speak with one of their customer service reps, or you can contact Nuance directly from this page. [/stextbox]
6. If you buy the Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Student/Teacher edition, apparently all sales are final.
On their terms and conditions page for student versions of software, it says: “All sales are final. No returns or changes except in the case of damaged and/or defective CD’s. Damaged and/or defective CD’s may be exchanged only.”
Having said that, we recently ordered the student teacher edition online and then canceled and got a full refund. Perhaps it was because we didn’t accept the shipment from the courier at all? Maybe we just got lucky? If you’re thinking about getting the Student/Teacher edition, make sure you qualify for the academic discount. Also, you might want to shop around at your favorite technology stores to make sure you’re getting the best price possible. You may not be able to get a refund like we did.
7. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Student/Teacher edition does not come with a serial code to activate the software.
You have to validate your education status first before they will e-mail you a serial code to unlock the software. (You can use the software 5 times before you need to activate it.) Verification is done by a third-party company (identit-E).
- Here’s the site that you will have to use to prove that you qualify for the academic discount: www.myidentit-e.com/nuance.
- Here are some examples of acceptable proof of active status.
According to Nuance’s terms and conditions, in order to get the academic discount, you will be required to submit one or more of the following:
- A valid email address that is associated with your accredited education institution.
- A valid, current student / teacher photo ID card that includes name and date / registration card.
- Letter or Correspondence* from academic institution confirming EDU status. Confirmation must be on letterhead paper and signed by a lecturer / teacher if you are a student** or by colleague (including contact details) if you are a lecturer / teacher.* Correspondance can be a letter from the school addressed to the pupil at their home address.
** Students under 18 are required to complete No 3 as form of validation.
8. Only K -12 students and teachers, and higher education students and faculty can buy Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Student/Teacher.
Schools and higher education institutions can still get academic pricing and volume pricing for Dragon NaturallySpeaking, but the rates are different. Click on the price tab on this page.
9. If you think this is more trouble than it’s worth to save a 100 bucks to get the Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Student/Teacher edition for $99.99, then you might consider getting the Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Home edition for $99.99.
What’s the difference between Dragon Naturally Speaking Home and Premium Versions?
When you look at the comparison chart, at first glance, the major difference between the Home edition and the Premium edition is the ability to dictate into a handheld recorder for later transcription.
However, if you view the feature matrix PDF at the bottom of the chart, there are a few other features that students or teachers might be interested in using in the classroom setting:
- Do you need to use Dragon in spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel?
- Do you need to use PowerPoint?
- Do you want to be able to play back your speech in documents to make it easier to correct and edit your work?
- Would you like to be able to import/export custom word lists and user profiles? (In other words, would you like to be able to import a text document with a list of student names, educational jargon, or specific homework vocabulary that Dragon doesn’t come with.)
- Would you like to be able to create commands to easily insert frequently used text and graphics? (Instead of copying and pasting, you could just say “insert B+ comment”.)
- Would you like to go wireless and use a Bluetooth headset?
These features are not available in the Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Home edition. If these features are important to you, you’ll have to get the premium version or above.
Another important difference between Dragon Home and Premium versions is that you can’t upgrade from Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home to the other version. The customer support person told me that if you wanted to get NaturallySpeaking Premium later on, you would have to restart your voice profile. In other words, all of the hard work you spent training your Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home profile won’t carry over to Dragon Speak Premium.
10. If you’re thinking about one day going wireless with Dragon, then it’s probably cheaper to get your wireless headset bundled with the software now, rather than buying a Bluetooth headset separately later.
The Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Wireless edition costs $299.99.
- This is $100 more expensive than the regular Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium version which goes for $199.99.
- If you buy the Plantronics Calisto Bluetooth headset separately, it costs $149.99.
- In other words, you save $50 if you get the premium wireless version, instead of buying the regular premium version and adding the headset separately.
We did try a Motorola Bluetooth headset for our cell phone with Dragon NaturallySpeaking, but we found it didn’t work very well.
- Whenever we tried to read one of the training texts, Dragon voice-to-text software kept asking us to repeat ourselves because it couldn’t understand what we were saying.
- Whenever we tried to dictate into a document, it took forever to try to figure out what we were saying, and then it misunderstood anyways.
- Bottom line: headset quality matters, and a Motorola bluetooth headset didn’t cut it!
Nuance does have a hardware compatibility chart on their website, which rates different Bluetooth and USB headsets on how well they work with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. When we were researching Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 premium, we tried to see if we could get one of those headsets in town. Unfortunately, Future Shop, Best Buy, and Staples didn’t carry any of the Nuance-certified Bluetooth headsets listed in their compatibility chart. There were some retailers near Toronto, but if we were going to order headsets online anyway, then it would be just easier to get it from Nuance in their premium wireless version.
To be honest, we were a little bit nervous with shelling out so much money for Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Wireless, but it’s kind of cool talking to your computer and not being attached to it. We haven’t had any problems with the Plantronics Calisto headset that came bundled with the software, and were happy to see that it got 4 out of 5 stars in the hardware compatibility chart.
No matter what version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 you decide to get, make sure you shop around to make sure you’re getting the best price. If you do shop online, please make sure you read carefully all the information on their websites because sales come and go and prices change. We would hate for you to have buyers remorse and software can be tricky to return.
This post was written using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Wireless
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