the educational version of max that you can get a free 3 year licence. For students and educators, and they don't require a .edu email or anything. I would lump in self education as a student these days, it's 2018, and that is a more common route than ever. The more people that are familiar with their software only helps…
There's Maya LT, which is cheaper, and its educational version, which is free to registered students for 3 years. I don't think there's any Max offering, other than really old GMax ;)
I don't think there has ever been such a thing, or was there ? If I understand correctly these were educational (as in, for students) versions. And regardless ... your friend would be much better off picking up Blender anyways. There is no good reason I can think of to tie oneself to a bloated commercial package like Maya…