wcoxe1,
Thanks for the info. You were right about my concern, even though I don't intend to use it commercially...now. I did a search and found nothing directly from SoFo going back to December of last year, but I was lead to a post on the COW which I will paste below:
Hello Mark, and thanks for writing.

Academic versions are identical to full versions, so upgrading an academic version will end in a full license.

Let me know if you have further questions, Mark.

Sincerely,
Joshua Dodge
Customer Relations Team Lead
Sonic Foundry, Inc.
***********************************

Well, NOW the perfect answer is available on this forum to future readers.

Good man.

wcoxel "The license is identical to the standard, non-academic license. It permits use for commercial purposes, if that is what concerns you"

You are incorrect in your statement. The license on the Academic Software is for non-commercial use. Joshua, stated that only with an upgrade to the Professional version (still same software) will you be granted a commercial license. If anyone has any questions call SoFo directly.

If everybody making money with the software could get it for academic pricing, I'm sure they all would.. Their licencing agreement prevents this.

Mike

I called SF a month or so ago, the number for their Academic Sales department. I was told there are two license agreements that you must agree to with the Academic purchase. The first is the purchase agreement, which states that at the time of purchase you are a student according to their restrictions.

The second is the End User License Agreement which details how you are allowed to use the software, such as commercially and such. The man with which I spoke told me the End User License Agreement for both the full and the academic version are identicle, and you can use the academic version commercially. You may also continue to use the academic version after you are no longer a student, because the purchase agreement restricts you to be a student at the time of purchase only.

Note, I have not read the agreements myself, but the man with which I spoke seemed to be well trained in this type of question and very knowledgable about the policies.

Ah, ce la vie! Good thing SoFo is there to straighten things out, if they will?

Somebody from SOFO (that has the red tag attached to their message, needs to chime in with a definitive on this, cuz right now...? I'm in a sine wave with this thread...

FWIW:
I put in an email to the SoFo Academic people on Friday evening. I will post the reply when I get it, but in the meantime I hope someone from SoFo will indeed clear this up once and for all.
Barry

Thanks. Sounds like the smart thing to have done.

Still no official word ?
This would clear things up...

Here is a post that would appear to answer your question:

Academic Usage

Q: Can the Academic version of Vegas Video be used commercially?
A: Yes, the Academic version can be used in exactly the same way as our retail version, commercially.

Q: Is there a difference in functionality between the 'academic' version and the 'retail' version?
A: No, there is no difference.

Q: Do you have a place where I can see and download that license agreement?
A: The license agreement is identical for all our current applications, regardless of whether you purchased it from an academic vendor or from a retail vendor. You can read the EULA here: http://www.sonicfoundry.com/support/eula.asp

Q: Is there a difference between the 'regular' license and the 'Academic' license?
A: No, there is no difference in the End User License Agreement, regardless of where you purchase the application from. As long as you qualify as an academic, you can get academic pricing from the academic resellers carrying our products.

Thanks a lot !
Sonic foundry is such a great company... I don't know many companies that would allow commercial use of academic versions !