All the industry magazines are free, but the articles are mostly just circle jerking the manufacturers. Rarely are their articles of any substance; it's mostly just gear lists and quotes about why the gear is great.
Surprisingly, on Chauvet Professionals blog, they have a number of good articles giving advice to students, and there was a very good interview with designer Seth Jackson, that was entirely about design and never mentioned a product once.
I agree with Bill, Conferences can be great for getting a lot of experience as a student. Also get her tickets to see shows. It's hard to learn a craft if you don't go out and see how the pros do it.