StarDestroyer.Net BBS

So, I'm in the market for good video editing software. I'm talking about the under $120 price range, but I can go a bit over if necessary. I've narrowed my search down to two options: Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere Elements.

Bottom line, which one of these is better? Or do you have a recommendation?

What are you going to use it for?

Either home videos, school projects, or random fun.

I'm gonna be taking classes that will probably mandate organizing semi-large events, as I've done so in the past, but our biggest hurdle has been relying on Windows Movie Maker for video advertising, which sucks donkey balls. We've put together nonprofit videos and informative videos with it, but they have been very minimalist (i.e. no flashy effects, basically footage and white text on black backgrounds, cheap-ass music in the background.)

Also, WMM has some terrible problems importing MPEG2 files, and won't edit them unless you convert to AVI. It constantly crashes, and utterly hates all my codecs. Basically anything that doesn't crash to desktop every five minutes would be much more helpful.