Whether the compatibility matters at all depends on the school and department.
A couple years into my computer science studies, I don't remember ever needing to open a single Office document from the school to get my work done. For typing up standalone papers free software tends to be enough, use whatever and convert to PDF for release. Everything from the school, assignments, instructions, etc. come in as PDF, HTML or task specific project files. If we have a teamwork project then we tend to use plaintext, LaTeX and/or RTF internally as necessary and again convert to PDF for release. Wikis and the like would be good too.
I don't have Office or iWork, just NeoOffice and AbiWord, which is plenty to open the occasional Office document sent by relatives over email or found on the Internet.
So I seriously suggest downloading the free apps, waiting and seeing if you run into limitations or problems, and what sort of work you need to do. You can always buy more apps later. If it turns out you never make presentations, you don't need Keynote. If it turns out you need lots of flowcharts and mathematical equations, but little else, then maybe you need OmniGraffle and Maple more than the commercial office software. Et cetera..
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