The pricing on Sublime Text is a steal for what value a frequent user of it derives from it. And they even let you use it forever with just a nag screen if you still refuse to, or can't afford to, pay that fee, unlike a SaaS product which would just lock you out.
I can totally get the high school student not paying for Sublime because they can't, but IMO no industry professional has any legs to stand on for using ST but refusing to pay for it on principle.