SRU students in campus organizations can now access a premium subscription of Canva, a popular design software, for free. This tool, named CanvaPro, provides access to more features for creating posters, resumes, presentations and more. Its usual cost is $15 per month.
“Students can access the CanvaPro account by signing in using the student organization’s Canva username and password,” assistant director of student organizations and leadership Aubrey Rader said. “This information is posted in The Creative Corner in The Suite [on the] second floor of the Student Center.”
Rader said this information will also be shared with organization leaders at the start of each semester. She claimed there has been positive feedback for this initiative.
“There was a lot of excitement when we announced that the account was created, and students began using it almost immediately,” Rader said. “It seems most students are using the Canva account to create marketing materials for their student organizations…I am sure we will start seeing students use the account for coursework as time passes.”
Canva has been steadily growing in popularity for the last two years. It currently has 220 million monthly users, a 38% share in the presentation market and is used by over 90% of fortune 500 companies.
According to the website itself, college students use Canva 25% more than the average user.
“Damn, I wish someone would’ve [offered] me this before my senior year,” one SRU student wrote online.
Student Engagement and Leadership (SEL) added CanvaPro to their Creative Corner resources in spring 2025.
“The Creative Corner is a small craft space in The Suite that students can utilize for free,” Rader said. “We have essential craft items [like] glue, scissors, construction paper…and other less common items such as hot glue guns, button makers, chalk markers…”
Last year, SEL added a Cricut cutting machine, Cricut design space subscription and a Cricut heat press to the Creative Corner, which can be used to make anything from T-shirts to stickers.
“Students loved the addition and use the Cricut tools quite a bit. I wondered what other creative tools we could add that would garner as much excitement,” Rader said. “I researched what different schools offer in these maker spaces and found many offered a Canva account. I thought this was a great idea and something students would appreciate having access to.”
She reported an increase in student visitation to the creative space.
“As students have heard about the account, they have stopped in to ask if they can use it and get the login information. This has provided opportunities for the [SEL] staff to interact with students and build new relationships. It has brought students into The Suite…and offered us an opportunity to introduce them to the other resources available,” Rader said.
Funding for the CanvaPro subscription comes from a student government sanctioned SEL budget.
“Utilizing this budget made sense, as SGA funds should be spent on things that all students can benefit from, which is just what this is,” Rader said.
