I am starting work on my first project and I need some tips on what programs to choose for creating new assets.
You should probably start with Blender since it’s free
Yea as above he says, but with Blender will take you some time to learn cause his philosophy is quite atypical, try this : BornCG, Otherwise if you have money simply buy the offer by Lightwave : Lightwave 2015
Hope that help you.
you can always sign up for an Autodesk student account (i dont think you need a .edu)
and you will have access to 3ds max, maya, mudbox and every other program Autodesk makes for free.
Although if you are aiming to make money off of it then you can not use the student edition of these programs
But i hope that helps 
Actually you can get MARI indie 3.0 + MODO indie 901 Bundle from steam for £289.99 as a permanent licenses, while from what I can see, Maya LT is £222.00 for a year subscription.
MARI indie 3.0 + MODO indie 901 Bundle: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/91036/
Maya LT: Maya LT Software | Get Prices & Buy Official Maya LT 2020
Indeed. As it is discussed here also …
https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?102904-Weird-question-3DS-Max-Maya-subscriptions
Hah :D… Just posted something similar in th other thread 
Keep in Mind Epic provides you with some tools for UE for Maya, and also that you can get Modo for $10 or so a month. For creating non-animated assets Modo is king imho, if rigging+animation is needed Maya might have a leg up (again, imo, and I haven’t used Epic’s tools in Maya yet but would imagine they’re useful).
If you ever want to get hired by a studio Maya might be the best option as it’s widely used. I rarely hear of studios using Blender but it does happen.
Have fun!
A good option
http://www.daz3d.com/carrara-8-5-pro
Very Maya like and with a Platinum account you can buy it for $65