Which version of photoshop should I buy?

Since you're a student you're tremendously lucky in that you can get 80% off the regular price of Photoshop CS5 Extended - whereas with Photoshop Elements, the price is only discounted 30%...

http://www.adobestudents.com/

So the net effect is that the full Photoshop is relatively a lot more affordable

Regardless, you should definitely avoid the older versions of Photoshop Elements because Adobe no longer sells them - and consequently there are a lot of fakes floating around there which are often unsafe and harm your computer

As for the differences between past versions of Photoshop Elements, version 9 is the best because it now includes some Content-Aware Fill features which will make your life a whole lot easier. For the rest, see

Compare Versions: What's the Difference between Photoshop Elements 9, 8, 7, 6?

http://prodesigntools.com/version-compare-differen...

Of course, you can also always just download a free trial of any of the latest versions of Photoshop direct from Adobe and try them out for yourself for 30 days

http://www.adobetrials.com/

Hope this helps!

in case you're a student, Adobe has a utility that enables scholars to purchase their programs at important economic value rate reductions. Shooters use Lightroom for controlling their workflow and processing uncooked information Retouchers use Photoshop to make necessary transformations in the conventional pictures they have.

Well for College Photoshop 9. I would not say that if it was for free use but for college you want the best because College basically plans your life and what you get. If you are just making random things for sites then go with lower. That`s what I gotta say.

Here's a link to the version comparisons so you can view the added features/enhancements in PSE 9 compared to the others:

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopel/upgrade/...

There really isn't a big difference, you can always look for addons if your missing something. Frankly, I still use PS 7 and its great.