Pardon my confusion, but when I looked up After Effects cs6, I found the following: Creative Cloud pricing and membership plans | Adobe Creative Cloud, and based my pricing on that.
When I did a further google search, I found it on ebay for $1,000 (Adobe After Effects CS6 FOR Windows Retail Last FEW DVD Version Left IN Stock | eBay). Maybe I am using the wrong search tearms.
I did also find the follwoing which supports your comments on it being discontinued: Adobe to halt volume sales of CS6 at end of May | Enterprise | News | PC Pro.
Diving into the Adobe website, I found the following: http://store1.adobe.com/cfusion/store/html/index.cfm?event=displayProduct&categoryOID=7253 698&store=OLS-EDU. It is $350. Would I have that software for life, or for the duration of my degree, or for 12 months?
The information is hard to find, hence why I am trying the forum. So what options are there?