I am currently taking a class on Cinema 4D at a community College in Berkeley, CA -- It ROCKS!! The makers of Cinema 4d (Maxon) offer about a $700 price for the educational version, it's fully registerable with no restrictions. Also, if you're taking a class in 3D, they offer an additional discount for a grand total Ed. price of $500 (this is $2400 software). Carrara is nice, but it's still pretty buggy. I'm looking forward to the future of it as well.