Microsoft offers free Office 365 directly to students

Jane McCallion Read more September 23, 2014

Students can now apply directly to Microsoft to receive free access to its Office 365 cloud productivity suite.

Microsoft offers free Office 365 directly to students

To get the software for free, head to the Office 365 for Students website and enter a valid school-provided email address. The free education package offers students aged 13 and up access to the latest versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access and Publisher, Office Online as well as 1TB of OneDrive storage, the company said.

Microsoft has offered Office 365 for free to students since October last year via Microsoft’s Student Advantage programme.

However, until now it was up to the student’s school to apply for the service on their behalf. Microsoft claims the new self-service model lifts a burden off the school IT department by removing them as a middleman.

While Microsoft is launching the programme today, it’s currently only available in the US. However, the organisation said it would be available in the rest of the world by the end of the year.

Teacher benefits

It’s not only students who are getting access to additional Office 365 functionality free.

From October, American schools purchasing Office for all their faculty and staff members will get a subscription to Office 365 ProPlus at no extra charge, which will also apply to students at the facility.

“[This] ensures that teachers are using the latest versions of Office and the same feature set as their students … [including] add-ins like Office Mix to record and publish class lectures,” the company said.

As with the self-service Office 365 for Students programme, the free Office 365 ProPlus deal will be rolling out to the rest of the world in December.