Photo editing software suggestions please

We bought my 23 year old daughter a nice Canon DSLR for her birthday last year and she really likes it.
This year she is asking for Photoshop software.

I know Commercial Photoshop is VERY expensive (like $700+).
I also know there are more cost-effective alternatives, ie: Photoshop Elements and similar products.

Looking for a good alternative, don't mind paying $50 - $100 for something good.
She's not an artist, photographer, or professional, just wants to improve her shots, maybe fade/blur the background, improve color/contract, type of stuff.

Thanks!

The 2 I use.

1. FastStone Image Viewer
http://www.faststone.org/
Read more - http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm
What i normally use and have been for a good number of years.

2. GIMP
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-win/
GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program.
Not often i use it in windows but once in a while I need to. Native to several Linux distros.

And they are both FREE.

I use Photoshop Elements and I have very good results after editing my photos. Version 12 is out now and not costly at all. Standard PhotoShop software/disc, is no more, it's Cloud now, and you usually have to rent it, price is per month, I think it's $9.95 per month.

Photoshop Elements 12 is under $100 now:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ts_12_for.html

I use FastStone but not for majoring editing. I use PSE for that. In my opinion, FastStone is good for normal jpg editing but I shoot RAW and need more advanced editing tools which Elements provides.

Gimp tutorials.
https://www.google.com/#q=Gimp+tutorial

Faststone tutorial
http://www.faststone.org/FSIVTutorial.htm

Hope that helps out.

I've been using GIMP for almost a year and find it quite good.