Microsoft 365 Free for Students in the US College
College students in the U.S. can avail a free one-year Microsoft 365 subscription. Here's what's included in the package.
This is not the same as Microsoft 365 Online, which is free for everyone. Microsoft 365 Personal (formerly called Office 365) includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook. You can access these apps on PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. It also comes with 1TB of storage space on OneDrive in the free subscription. And before you ask, yes it includes Microsoft Copilot in desktop apps for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Designer, etc.
Word will auto save your documents in OneDrive, you may wish to change that. Copilot in Excel requires AutoSave to be enabled. The Redmond company had recently warned that Copilot in Excel lacks accuracy. Please note that Windows 11 will soon automatically install two companion apps on your PC, if you have Microsoft 365 Desktop apps installed.
So, why is Microsoft 365 Personal being given away for free? And why only in the United States? Microsoft announced the news as part of its commitment to the U.S. Government's efforts to increase AI education in the Country. That explains a lot.
Microsoft Office 365 personal lifetime subscription for students
Microsoft 365 Personal normally costs $99.99 per year, or $9.99 per month. Getting it for free can be great for students. You may want to set a reminder to cancel the membership after 12 months, otherwise you will be charged for the subscription on a monthly basis. If you choose to continue with Microsoft 365 after 12 months, you can do so for 50% off, i.e. $4.99 per month. This offer ends on October 31st, or until supplies last. Go to this page to claim your free subscription.
Users who wish to claim the Microsoft 365 student 12-month free trial and discount offer will need to use their college or university email address to verify their student status. You will also need to provide a payment method, likely a credit card, to claim the offer. Existing subscribers can also claim the offer, instructions for this are provided on the offer page.
Please refer to the terms and conditions on Microsoft's website for more details.
A word of advice, if you are concerned about your privacy, I strongly recommend using LibreOffice which is completely free, open source, supports Office document formats, and is available across platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux. Sure, it lacks the online features of Microsoft 365, but you can't put a price tag on privacy.
I wouldn’t use it even if it were free. It’s a way to trick you into using it, and then your data is held hostage until you pay monthly once the trial is over. If you really need it, stick to offline versions of Office.
I’m guessing one has to give a credit card number to MS before getting the service.
Once they have your card nr., its over for the subscriber. You are their bitch for life.
They’re all lucky. Wish I got a free license too.
No thanks for any version of Microsoft Office. I’ve never liked Word at all, in any of its incarnations. WordPerfect still runs circles around it. And don’t forget that (from what I’ve read) Microsoft deliberately held back certain APIs from competing software:
Info (ironically) from Copilot includes this:
“WordPerfect was once the king of word processors, especially in the DOS era. But when Windows 95 launched, Microsoft Word surged ahead—thanks in part to how Microsoft handled access to certain Windows APIs.
Novell, which owned WordPerfect at the time, alleged that Microsoft deliberately withheld namespace extension APIs—key tools that would have allowed WordPerfect to integrate smoothly with Windows 95’s new file management system. Without them, WordPerfect couldn’t use the standard file open/save dialogs, making it feel clunky and outdated compared to Microsoft Word.
Novell claimed this delay in access caused WordPerfect to miss the critical launch window for Windows 95, giving Microsoft Word a massive head start. By the time WordPerfect was finally updated, Microsoft Office had already captured a dominant share of the market.
Novell sued Microsoft in 2004, arguing that this was part of a broader strategy to crush competition in the office software space. But in 2012, a judge ruled that Microsoft’s actions—while aggressive—didn’t violate antitrust laws. The court found that Microsoft wasn’t obligated to support competitors and that Novell’s own internal missteps contributed to the delay.
During the trial, Gates testified that WordPerfect simply failed to keep up and that Novell were ‘sore losers.’ He denied that Microsoft had intentionally sabotaged WordPerfect, framing the outcome as a natural result of competition.
From a legal standpoint, the courts said no. But from a strategic and competitive lens, Microsoft’s control over the Windows platform—and its selective sharing of APIs—gave its own software a major edge. Whether that was fair play or foul depends on your view of platform power and antitrust ethics.”
“A particularly famous piece of evidence was an internal email from Bill Gates. In it, Gates expressed concern about Netscape and emphasized the need to “undermine” its position. While the exact wording varied across reports, the email was interpreted by prosecutors as a directive to use Windows’ dominance to disadvantage competitors—including by controlling access to APIs.
The DOJ argued that this behavior was anti-competitive and violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The case eventually led to a ruling that Microsoft had indeed abused its monopoly power. Although the company avoided being broken up, it was subjected to years of oversight and restrictions, including requirements to share APIs more fairly.”
It would appear to me that Microsoft is simply up to its old tricks. And in the United States, “justice” can be sold if enough money is fed to a judge to make them smile.
@John C.–WordPerfect, great office suite! I was offered a “first job” [paralegal] because I knew WordPerfect inside and out. That was years ago. I continued using WordPerfect in the education field maybe because of Reveal Codes.
One year of MS Office is bait; what to do for the next 3-6 years? Stack Social has a deal on MS 2021, $40.00, Lifetime.