M9 Student Discount Program

[Roger Hicks]

I hope the idea catches. I would like a student driver discount on a Maserati.

Then the 'net would be full of complaints of fuel tanks rusting through, of parts taking forever to arrive from Italy, of some parts (steering locks, as far as I recall) being Fiat parts at 10x Fiat prices, still with the 3-month delays... These are all true experiences of a Maserati-owning friend.

The reason why Leicas take such flack from some users is that (a) they're very cheap by the standards of luxury goods, cf Maserati; (b) there are many more of them around than e.g. Maseratis and Ferraris; and (c) they last a lot better than Maseratis with a lot less maintenance. When did you last see a rusty Leica? (My chum's Ghibli was resprayed more than once under guarantee.)

Cheers,

R.

 

[Florian1234]

I'm a full time student (PhD candidate), but not in photography, and if so, I would not even have the money for a full frame dslr and decent lenses for it, not to speak of travelling/funding to produce stories to sell.

 

[Pico]

[...]
Back in the 90s, I used to teach at the smallest campus of a large Midwestern university system. The cars in the student lot were much better and more luxurious than the ones in the faculty parking area... Convertible Sebrings (recently introduced), high end GM cars and nice Lexus. Faculty cars? A bunch of no-nonsense vehicles, like Dodge Neons, Toyota Corollas, Chevy GEOs, Ford Fiestas, one VW van (belonging to a wannabe hippie) and other assorted low price/low cost cars.

Many years ago I worked for a spendy private college. Parents' day looked like a sports car convention.

During one graduation I overheard a parent say to his daughter, "You got a degree in Art and it cost over $100,000 (USD). I could have had a Ferrari!"

Must suck to be him.

 

[JohnnyT]

Hell yeah!

Hell yeah!

Ahhh ... I'm actually a teacher... I think I'll corrupt some souls...

 

[ashfaque]

I'm a full time student (PhD candidate), but not in photography, and if so, I would not even have the money for a full frame dslr and decent lenses for it, not to speak of travelling/funding to produce stories to sell.

Same here [Economics]. When I heard that Leica had it only for photography students in NA only I was really sad. With such high demand of Leica and relatively lower supply, I guess it's quite unlikely to have a general student discount in the near future.

 

[menos]

I don't get all the fuzz about this program being a joke.
I worked, since about 12 (first jobs being selling newspaper and washing cars).
I was into mountain bikes, when I was a teen and got two bikes when I was 16 - a nice hard tail for the city and a crazy downhill bike, both being much more expensive than the most costly Leica M items, there are.

I earned every cent for it by myself.

If you want that camera or even need and benefit from it, go and get it - it's just money. Everybody can earn it! No one needs to have rich parents, to afford anything.

I know, the guy is polarizing, but he has a great article: "How to afford anything" - google for it!

I really like the program, and would wish, Leica would do this globally, helping students to some good gear (be it film bodies, lenses or digitals).

 

[Rob-F]

How about a discount for loyal life-long Leica owners/users?

 

[rxmd]

I'm a full time student (PhD candidate), but not in photography, and if so, I would not even have the money for a full frame dslr and decent lenses for it, not to speak of travelling/funding to produce stories to sell.

I don't know whether one would really need full frame or not, but in Germany, a used Canon 5D can be had for under 900 EUR, and you can get much of the travelling bit financed by the German Academic Exchange Service. I just finished a German PhD on a state grant (will be defending in three weeks), and I got a used Leica M5 during that time and spent two of my four years abroad. It's doable, just waiting for you to do it.