Check with your university some of the schools have an agreement with Autodesk to give you free or significantly discounted access with a valid student email address.

Outside of that LibreCAD is a free 2D cad package steep learning curve but generally can get the job done if working in 2D: https://librecad.org/

My Personal Open Source Structural Applications:
https://github.com/buddyd16/Structural-Engineering

Open Source Structural GitHub Group:
https://github.com/open-struct-engineer

Dassault Systemes DraftSight is an AutoCAD clone that does it better in many ways. Used to be free, might still be.

I agree with Celt83, when I was in college I was able to use Autodesk products for free using my school email address. This was for the student version, which prints "student" on the output typically, but it worked great.

Draftsight is no longer free, however a very close clone. The price for it isn't all that bad either.

NanoCAD. NanoCAD is a multi-purpose drafting software developed by Nanosoft. According to the company's CTO, Dmitry Popov, it's the first full-scale CAD program available entirely for free. It supports DWG files natively and offers a familiar layout and set of tools for AutoCAD users. shareit app vidmate

I have looked at solidwork several years ago and it was at the time not too far off from autocad 2000. I "suspect" the current version of solidwork may not be too dissimlar from current version of autocad.

DWG TrueView is the official free AutoCAD reader software from Autodesk. It is also a file conversion software designed to ensure interoperability between different DWG versions and different AutoCAD releases. Like software, the AutoCAD file format has also evolved in the three decades since its release.

There's actually a program called 'FreeCAD'. It is basically an 'inferior good' which can be used as a substitute for Solidworks (in case anyone's wondering, I'm currently studying Economics for the first time in my life and therefore applying it to nearly everything). There are some very interesting videos on FreeCAD on YouTube. The type of work I do is far removed from Mechanical Engineering so I likely won't use FreeCAD or Solidworks in the foreseeable future.

I mostly use regular 2D CAD. I am currently trying out a 2D CAD alternative called GstarCAD. It's NOT free but much cheaper than AutoCAD. Haven't used it long enough to give a solid recommendation but I like it so far. There are a lot of CAD programs that aren't AutoCAD but are similar to it. Draftsight used to be free, now it has a yearly fee and isn't that great value wise. BricsCAD is another alternative but is actually quite expensive as far as alternatives are concerned.

Any 'Autodesk' software (AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor, etc...), usually offers a generous student licensee arrangement. They appear to be tightening up their restrictions as it pertains to who actually qualifies for a student license and who doesn't. And this includes checking up on student license holders (a lot of people are using student licenses commercially).

It's worth mentioning also that there is a really good 3D surface modelling program called 'Blender'; it's completely free and actually works better than paid programs within it's own little niche. Cools stuff!!

A benefit of joining the Experimental Aircraft Association ($35 per year) is that they give you a free student version of Solidworks and keep it updated.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

The one and only one: PTV Vissim download

I don't know if it's improved, but the AutoCAD viewer was slower than... I'm not sure. It was a real pain to use.-

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik