- What you get with Office 365 A1 for free
- Office 365 A1 vs higher education plans
- Who's eligible
- The catch: what happens when it expires
- How to get Microsoft Office free as a student
- Make the free apps work harder
- Office for teachers and schools
- If you're not eligible
- Before you graduate: a short checklist
- Getting more from the web apps
- Frequently asked questions
The short version: yes, Microsoft Office is free for students who have an eligible school email address. Microsoft offers Office 365 A1 for free, which gives you the web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook, plus Teams. Desktop apps come with higher education plans that your school may or may not have.
A lot of students assume they need to get their own copy of Office, then find out later their school already had it covered. Before you do anything else, check with your school email.
What you get with Office 365 A1 for free
- Word for writing, with spelling and grammar checking.
- Excel for data, charts and analysis.
- PowerPoint for presentations.
- OneNote for organising notes, sections and pages.
- Outlook for email.
- Microsoft Teams for video calls, file sharing and assignments.
Microsoft's page is clear that A1 includes the web-based versions of these core apps, so you use them in your browser rather than installing them.
Office 365 A1 vs higher education plans
| A1 (free) | Higher education plans | |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets it | Eligible students and educators | Schools that license them |
| Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook | Web versions | Web and desktop apps |
| Desktop installs | No | Up to five PCs or Macs per user |
| Phones and tablets | Web access | Up to five tablets and five phones per user |
Who's eligible
Microsoft says educators and students with an eligible education email address can get Office 365 A1 for free. You can keep using it as long as you're working at, or enrolled in, a qualified educational organisation. Microsoft donates A1 to eligible institutions for free.
Verification is often instant. Microsoft says that in many cases the response is immediate through an automated check, but where an institution itself needs to be verified, it can take up to a month.
The catch: what happens when it expires
This is the part to plan for. Microsoft says your eligibility may be re-verified at any time. When your Office 365 Education plan expires, the apps go into reduced-functionality mode, which means you can view your documents but you can't edit them or create new ones.
You can extend it by re-verifying your status as a student or educator, or by moving to a personal plan. So when you're close to graduating, download or move anything you'll still need to edit. Don't leave your dissertation or portfolio sitting in an account that's about to go read-only.
How to get Microsoft Office free as a student
- Find your school email address and make sure you can sign in to it.
- Go to Microsoft's Office 365 Education page and choose the option for students.
- Enter your school email and follow the verification steps.
- Sign in at office.com and start using Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote in your browser.
- Ask your school's IT team whether your account also includes the desktop apps.
Make the free apps work harder
Once you're set up, these ChatGPT prompts for exam revision study plans pair nicely with OneNote, and my guide to productivity tools for students and solo workers covers where apps like these help and where they fall short.
Office for teachers and schools
Teachers get the same A1 offer with an eligible education email. Microsoft also describes tools aimed at running classes, such as OneNote class notebooks, Teams for Education for assignments and video lessons, and School Data Sync for setting up classes and groups. If you're a school leader, the institution sign-up is a separate route on the same page.
If you're not eligible
Not every course or school qualifies, and Microsoft's FAQ has a section for people who aren't eligible. If that's you, it's worth asking your school's IT team too, because they'll know exactly which plan the school uses.
Before you graduate: a short checklist
The expiry rule is the one that catches people out, so give yourself a few weeks' warning. Download copies of your dissertation, portfolio pieces and anything you've built in Excel or PowerPoint. Move shared files you'll still need to an account that isn't tied to your school. Export any OneNote notebooks you want to keep, and tell group project partners where the final versions live.
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Once your status lapses, you'll still be able to open and read your documents, but not edit them, so the safest time to do all of this is while everything still works.
Getting more from the web apps
The web versions cover far more than people expect. Word in the browser handles essays and reports, Excel handles charts and data analysis, and PowerPoint handles most presentations. Because everything saves to the cloud, you can start an assignment on a library computer and pick it up on your laptop later without emailing files to yourself. For group work, share one document and edit it together rather than passing copies around, which keeps everyone on the same version.
Teams is worth setting up early too. Microsoft describes Teams for Education as bringing video calls, file sharing, notes and assignments together, so if your course uses it, you'll find deadlines and class files in one place rather than scattered across email. Sign in once with your school account on your phone as well, so you don't miss messages from tutors or classmates. It's a small step that makes the whole setup feel far less like admin and far more like a tool you'll use every day.
My verdict: if you're a student or teacher, there's no reason to go without Office. Check your school email first, use the web apps, and set a reminder to move your important files before you leave.
Frequently asked questions
Is Microsoft Office free for students?
Yes. Microsoft says students and educators with an eligible education email address can get Office 365 A1 for free.
Which apps come with Office 365 A1?
Microsoft lists the web-based versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, along with Microsoft Teams.
Do students get the Office desktop apps for free?
A1 includes the web versions. Higher education plans that schools license add desktop apps on up to five PCs or Macs per user.
How long does Office 365 Education verification take?
Microsoft says it's often instant through automated verification, but verifying an institution can take up to a month.
What happens when Office 365 Education expires?
The apps enter reduced-functionality mode, so you can view documents but can't edit or create new ones until you re-verify or move to a personal plan.
