I'm 19 and bought a Microcarve for wood working about 8 months ago; and have some input in regards to the software side of things. If your prospective students are at the point where they want to make parts, with the concept of what they want already preconceived I don't see an issue with them using CAD and CAM software.

I'd first get/introduce them into CAD, find some package that's straightforward and is intuitive(I've never used a CAD package, I have used various 3d modeling programs though), avoid the cold shell that some packages have; although they may be extremely capable you don't want hours spend understanding the GUI.

Now, the interesting part where they want to make what they have designed. They have to get the grasp of feedrates and such. I've only cut wood, Ipe isn't aluminum(it's aluminum of wood though ) but I've wreaked countless bits and have made numerous(many laughable, few were complex) errors.
I'm almost tempted to say some students should be groomed(Ei they are very interested and dedicated, especially for the CAM and controller side of things) for using CAM and CAD packages.
Many may love designing parts but may not wish to think about the actual CNC machine and it milling parts.
While others, like myself can't design much of anything yet enjoy continually tinkering with things to achieve faster mill times and better finish quality.

That's just my idea of what you could potentially do, although, I could be totally off base to what your aiming to do