GitHub Student Developer Pack: What's Included, Who's Eligible and How to Apply
The GitHub Student Developer Pack is a free bundle of developer tools for verified students, part of the wider GitHub Education program. If you are 13 or older, enrolled in a degree- or diploma-granting school (including high school and homeschool) and have a personal GitHub account, you can apply at github.com/settings/education/benefits with proof of enrollment. Once approved you get GitHub Pro, Copilot Student, GitHub Codespaces hours, and around 80 partner offers such as a free domain, $100 of Azure credit, a JetBrains student license and 1Password.
Who is eligible for GitHub Education
According to GitHub's application docs, you need to:
- be enrolled in a degree- or diploma-granting program, such as a high school, college, university or homeschool;
- be able to prove your current student status with documents;
- have a personal GitHub account (organization accounts don't qualify);
- be at least 13 years old.
Bootcamps and informal courses that aren't degree- or diploma-granting generally don't qualify unless they are part of GitHub's Campus Program.
Accepted proof: a photo of your school ID showing a current enrollment date, your class schedule, your transcript, or an affiliation or enrollment verification letter. The document must clearly show at least one date and your current academic status.
Academic email: if the form asks for one, add and verify your school email on your GitHub account first (email settings). If your school doesn't issue email addresses, upload official documentation such as a letter on school letterhead explaining that. You can still apply without a .edu address, as long as your documents prove enrollment.
How to apply for the GitHub Student Developer Pack
- Sign in to the personal GitHub account you want the benefits on.
- Add and verify your school email under Settings > Emails, if you have one. Use it in all lowercase, without "+" aliases.
- Put your real name in your GitHub profile so it matches the name on your documents.
- Go to Education benefits settings.
- Under GitHub Education, click Start an application.
- Complete the form: say you are a student, select your school, and upload your proof of enrollment when asked. Take the photo clearly, in good light, with the dates visible.
- Click Submit application.
- Wait for the decision email. When approved, open the GitHub Education portal and the pack page to claim offers.
Some benefits take a few days to show up after approval, Copilot in particular.
Why applications get rejected
GitHub's troubleshooting page lists the usual reasons:
- The uploaded image is blurry or doesn't clearly show your current academic status.
- Your school's email domain isn't verified with GitHub. Contact GitHub Education Support with the school's full name, website and email domain.
- Your school issues email addresses before paid enrollment, so an email alone isn't enough proof.
- Your academic email is already used for another GitHub account. Merge the accounts and keep the one with the discount.
- You aren't in an eligible program or are under 13.
If you are rejected, fix the cause and reapply from the same settings page.
GitHub student benefits from GitHub itself
These are the core GitHub Education benefits, separate from partner offers:
- GitHub Pro, free while you are a student.
- GitHub Copilot Student (details below).
- GitHub Codespaces: up to 180 core hours per month on your personal account, with Pro-level storage. A cloud dev machine you open in the browser; see GitHub Codespaces.
- GitHub Pages for a personal site, plus Campus Experts, events and learning resources in the Education portal.
GitHub Copilot for students
Verified students get Copilot Student for free. Per the plans docs and the pack page, it includes unlimited code completions, an allowance of GitHub AI Credits, agent mode, the Copilot cloud agent, code review and MCP support. Two limits: models are auto model selection only (you can't pick a specific model), and third-party agents are excluded. Chat and agent use is limited by the credit allowance.
To activate it:
- Get verified through GitHub Education (steps above).
- Go back to Education benefits settings.
- Under the free developer resources for students and teachers, click Learn more and follow the prompts to activate Copilot Student.
- Install GitHub Copilot in your editor (VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Xcode and others) and sign in.
If your account still shows Copilot Free, a trial or a checkout page after approval, don't pay. GitHub says the benefit can take several days to apply; wait, then contact GitHub Support. Note that GitHub paused new Student plan sign-ups on April 20, 2026 along with Pro and Pro+. The current setup docs no longer show a pause notice, but if activation isn't offered, that is the likely reason.
GitHub re-evaluates Copilot eligibility every month, so the free plan follows your verified student status.
The most valuable partner offers (October 2026)
The pack page currently lists around 80 offers. These are the ones most students get real value from:
| Partner | What you get |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Azure | $100 Azure credit plus 25+ free services (ages 18+); a separate free-services offer for ages 13-17 |
| JetBrains | Free annual subscription to all JetBrains IDEs while a student |
| Namecheap | A .me domain for 1 year, plus an SSL certificate for 1 year |
| Name.com / .TECH | A free domain from select extensions / a free .tech domain for 1 year |
| Heroku | $13/month platform credit for 24 months |
| MongoDB | $50 Atlas credits and a free MongoDB University certification (worth $150) |
| 1Password | Free for 1 year, including developer tools |
| Frontend Masters | 6 months free |
| DataCamp | 3 months free |
| Educative | 6 months free, then 30% off |
| Boot.dev | 3 months free membership |
| Datadog | Pro account (10 servers) free for 2 years |
| Sentry | 50K errors and 100K transactions, for 1 year (renewable) |
| New Relic | Free while a student |
| Stripe | $25 in fee credits |
| Clerk | Pro plan free while a student |
| Notion | Education plan with extra AI responses |
| BrowserStack | Automate Mobile plan free for 1 year |
| Termius | Pro and Team features while a student |
Offers change often. Some well-known ones searchers still look for, such as an AWS offer ("GitHub Education AWS") and Canva Pro, are not in the current list. On AWS, the cloud credit in the pack today is Azure's $100, plus Heroku and MongoDB Atlas credits. For more free tools and startup credits outside the pack, see DevHunt's developer perks.
Each offer has its own sign-up flow. Usually you click Get access on the pack page, which takes you to the partner, where you sign in with GitHub. Claim only what you will use, since many offers start their timer on activation.
What happens after you graduate
There is no single end date for everything:
- "While you are a student" benefits (GitHub Pro, Copilot Student, Clerk, Termius, New Relic and others) end when GitHub can no longer verify your student status. Copilot eligibility is checked monthly.
- Fixed-term offers (for example 1Password's year, Heroku's 24 months) run for their stated term from when you redeemed them, under each partner's terms.
- Re-verifying: GitHub Education access expires periodically. If you are still a student, you can reapply from the same Education benefits page. Some partner offers can't be renewed.
After graduation, your GitHub account and repositories stay on GitHub Free, which includes unlimited public and private repositories. You can move to Copilot Free or a paid Copilot plan, and buy any partner tools you still need. Many have free tiers; DevHunt's free alternatives lists options.
FAQ
Is the GitHub Student Developer Pack free?
Yes. There is no price for the pack. You only need to qualify as a student and get verified. Some partner offers turn into paid plans after their free period if you add a payment method, so check each one before entering a card.
Can I get the GitHub student pack without a .edu email?
Yes. A school email speeds things up, but you can apply with documents such as a dated student ID, transcript or enrollment letter. If your school doesn't issue emails, include official documentation saying so.
How long does GitHub student verification take?
GitHub doesn't publish a fixed time. Many applications are decided quickly, but some take days, and benefits like Copilot can take several more days to appear after approval.
How do I check if I have the GitHub Student Developer Pack?
Open Education benefits settings. If you are verified, it shows your approved status and the student benefits. You can also open education.github.com/pack while signed in and see whether offers are available to claim.
Does the GitHub student pack include Copilot?
Yes, as the Copilot Student plan: unlimited completions, an AI credits allowance, agent mode and code review, with automatic model selection only. Activate it from Education benefits settings after you are verified.