Buying a standalone version of Dreamweaver is almost an exercise in futility, since it is so integrated in the complete Creative Suite of programs: Photoshop, Fireworks, Flash, Contribute, Bridge, Illustrator, and so on. By itself it is not much more than HTML-Kit, but $500 more expensive.

For learning, the free or inexpensive approach is the better one, where students' pocketbooks are concerned. Once they graduate, they can spend the $1800 it costs to buy CS4, CS5 or whatever it will be by then.

Along with coding, they should learn about image optimization. For this, you will need at least one copy of Fireworks. This is worth investing in (about $400), since it won't really ever go out of date.