Students aged 13 and older can use Copilot Chat at no cost when their school has a Microsoft 365 A1, A3 or A5 licence and they sign in with their school account. The full Microsoft 365 Copilot, which works inside Word, Excel and the rest using school files, is a paid academic add-on that the school buys, not the student.
So the first question isn't really about Copilot. It's about your school. Whether you get it, and how much of it, depends on the licence your school holds and what its IT team has switched on.
The free part: Copilot Chat on a school account
Microsoft's education page says "Copilot Chat is available at no cost for users with a Microsoft 365 A1, A3, or A5 license when signed in with their school or work account." It adds that it's "currently available to faculty, staff, and higher education students aged 13 and older." Microsoft's admin pages put it more simply: Copilot Chat is available for students aged 13 and older, and they point IT teams to a separate guide called Microsoft Copilot Chat for Students 13+.
Microsoft says Copilot Chat includes web grounding, the latest language models, file uploads, Copilot Pages, IT controls and enterprise-grade privacy and security. Its education page says the chat is powered by GPT-5. You can view links to sources, generate images, and summarise or analyse files you upload.
The key difference from the paid version is reach. Microsoft says adding a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence makes Copilot Chat more powerful by drawing on Microsoft Graph, meaning your school documents, emails, meetings and chats, and by working directly inside the apps. More on what Copilot Chat includes if you want the detail.
How to check whether your school has it
- Sign in to the Microsoft Copilot app or Copilot Chat with your school account, not a personal one.
- Look for the cues Microsoft describes for a school or work account: a Work label under your profile in the navigation pane, a different background colour from the personal version, and the green data protection shield.
- If Copilot opens with a message that it was turned off for your organisation, your school has blocked it. Microsoft lets schools add a View info from your organization link on that page, which may explain their policy.
- If you can't find it at all, ask your school's IT team whether Copilot Chat is enabled for students and whether you're in the eligible age group.
Microsoft tells admins to instruct users to sign in with their work or school account so they get enterprise protections. Microsoft's education page says your data is isolated within your school's Microsoft 365 tenant and never used to train foundation models. That's a good reason to do schoolwork on the school account rather than a personal one.
What your school has to switch on
Access is the school's decision. Microsoft's admin documentation shows IT teams can deploy the Copilot app, manage where it's pinned, or block it across the organisation or for specific users or groups. Blocking it through the admin center's Integrated Apps control removes Copilot from the Copilot app, Teams, Outlook and Copilot Chat on the web for everyone in scope.
For the Study and Learn agent, Microsoft says a school must "first enable Microsoft Copilot for eligible students in your tenant" before students aged 13 and older can access it.
Study and Learn, the student agent
This is the part of Copilot built for students rather than office workers. Microsoft describes Study and Learn as "a purpose-built experience in Microsoft 365 Copilot that helps students understand concepts, solve problems, and improve writing", and adds "without doing the work for them." It uses guided practice and interactive activities based on learning science. Microsoft's page names three methods: adaptive scaffolding, productive struggle and retrieval-based practice.
In plain English, it's designed to quiz you and walk you through a problem rather than hand over the answer. For revision that's more useful than a chatbot that writes your essay, and it keeps you on the right side of most schools' AI rules.
Teachers get their own space too. Microsoft's education page describes Teach in the Microsoft 365 Copilot App, where educators can create lesson plans, draft quizzes and rubrics, and adjust reading level, length and difficulty.
The paid add-on and what it costs
| Option | Who it's for | Cost as Microsoft states |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot Chat | Faculty, staff and students aged 13 and older on Microsoft 365 A1, A3 or A5 | No cost when signed in with a school account |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot academic offering | Faculty, staff and students aged 13 and older, bought by the institution | $18 per user per month, in US dollars, on Microsoft's education page |
| Copilot for personal use | Anyone with a personal Microsoft account | Free, or with Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions |
As of October 2026, Microsoft's education page states the Microsoft 365 Copilot academic offering costs $18 per user per month, quoted in US dollars. That's an institutional price. Microsoft's licensing page says schools buy eligible plans through Enrollment for Education Solutions or a Cloud Solution Provider, and lists the eligible plans as Microsoft 365 A1, A2, A3 and A5, and Office 365 A1, A3 and A5.
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The add-on is what brings Copilot into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and OneNote, drawing on school documents, emails, meetings and chats. If you're curious how licensing works outside education, here's what a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence needs.
If your school doesn't offer it
Microsoft's education page points students to Copilot "for life and personal use for free or with Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions." That's the consumer Copilot on a personal Microsoft account. It's useful, but it doesn't come with the school account's enterprise data protection. Here's what the free personal version gives you.
Microsoft's own Windows marketing suggests a couple of student uses: instead of rereading a 20-page article the night before class, use the Copilot key shortcut to get a summary, or ask Copilot to turn your notes into flashcards before a quiz. Both work on the free version. Just check your course's rules on AI before you hand anything in.
What I'd do
I'd ask the school's IT team first. One email tells you whether Copilot Chat is switched on for students, whether Study and Learn is available, and whether the school has bought the add-on for anyone. Skip paying for the add-on yourself: Microsoft prices and sells it to institutions, and the free Copilot Chat covers most of what a student needs for research, summaries and revision.
If your school, college or training team wants staff and students using Copilot confidently, that's the kind of AI training I run. I run AI training and workshops for teams, and help businesses with AI enablement and workflow automation, so the busywork runs itself and people get time back. Most of that work is with SaaS marketing teams and small businesses. Here's how we can work together.
Frequently asked questions
Is Copilot free for students?
Copilot Chat is, if your school has a Microsoft 365 A1, A3 or A5 licence and you sign in with your school account. Microsoft says it's available at no cost on those plans for students aged 13 and older. The fuller Microsoft 365 Copilot is a paid add-on your school buys.
Can students under 13 use Copilot Chat?
Microsoft's pages say Copilot Chat is available for students aged 13 and older. They don't describe access for younger pupils, so check with your school.
Why can't I see Copilot on my school account?
Your school's IT admin controls it. Microsoft says admins can block the Copilot app for their whole organisation or for specific groups, and Study and Learn only appears once the school has enabled Copilot for eligible students.
Should I use my personal account for schoolwork instead?
You can use the free personal version of Copilot, but your school account is the one with enterprise data protection. Microsoft says to sign in with your school account to get those protections, and work and personal accounts stay separate.
