How to get Office 2007 Ultimate for $60

Welcome to the Cheapskate's Greatest Hits, where I revisit past deals that are still available--and still awesome.

The list price for Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate is a whopping $679.95. The upgrade price? It's an equally whopping $539.99. For that kind of money, it had better come with Megan Fox's Tina Fey's phone number.

Believe it or not, you can score a legal and totally legitimate copy of Office 2007 Ultimate for just $59.95. What's the catch? You need to "borrow" a college student (or, you know, be one).

Microsoft's Ultimate Steal deal is for currently enrolled students who have an e-mail address ending in ".edu" or who attend one of several dozen approved institutions. (Mouse over the "Am I Eligible" link for more details.)

Assuming you qualify, this is a pretty incredible deal. In addition to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, Office Ultimate comes with OneNote, Access, Publisher, Groove, and other goodies.

There's one other small catch: Your 60 bucks buys you the download version of the suite. If you want discs, it'll cost you another $13--still a steal.

Of course, some would argue that most students (and other users) can get everything they need from OpenOffice 3.0, a full-featured office suite that costs nada (Download the Windows or Mac version here). Let me know if you're in that camp, or if you think Microsoft's offer is too good to pass up.

Update: If you'd rather have a boxed copy, Newegg is offering Office Home and Student 2007 (3-license edition) for $79.95 shipped. (Apply coupon code EMCLVNW56 to get that price.)