Oh, I love Blender!  Otherwise I wouldn't be stalking Graphicall for new SVNs. :)  I did buy a 1-year student license of Max 9 once, but honestly I didn't care for the interface (EVERYTHING is a modifier and it's a click-heavy program, much harder to use with shortcuts than Blender).  Cost was also an issue since to make anything I could sell  I would have to pay more than I have invested in my entire computer at the moment.  

Maya and Max undoubtedly have advanced features Blender does not, but Blender is completely adequate to my needs at the moment - and isn't held in charge by people who want to make it as hard as possible to obtain and use their product.