I know this is some months after the original post but I am only just getting back into AP. Just recently I looked into purchasing Photoshop after having used Elements for about 2 years and found that I could subscribe (go to Adobe) to CS 5 on a monthly basis or for a 1 year commitment subscribe for a lower monthly cost, which I have done. It is an amount I can budget for each month and it is considerably cheaper than the upfront total cost for buying the software.

I am still learning how to use the features and it can be really interesting what you can do but I must say I am more for learning how to use my camera properly and getting good results than playing around with software - I worked with software for over 20 years and it still seems like work !
Forever learning