Microsoft Office Student Discounts and Cheap Options (2026)

The best Microsoft Office student discount is often free: many students can use Office 365 Education through their school email at no cost. If that is not available, Microsoft offers discounted Microsoft 365 Personal for verified college students in some countries, and a one-time Office 2024 licence suits students who want to stop paying yearly.

Availability and pricing vary by country and institution, so check each option against your own school and region before paying.

Can students get Microsoft Office for free?

Yes, many can. Microsoft donates Office 365 Education A1 to eligible schools, colleges and universities, giving students and teachers with a valid school email free access to the web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook. If your institution licenses a higher plan, such as A3, the free package includes the installable desktop apps as well.

Microsoft's Office 365 Education page lets you enter your school email to check eligibility. Some institutions are approved instantly; others can take up to a month to verify.

Ask your IT helpdesk before you buy anything. Students often discover that their university already pays for desktop Office and they simply never signed in.

What is the difference between Office 365 A1, A3 and A5?

A1 is the free tier with web-based Office apps, email and Teams; A3 adds the full desktop Office apps on up to five PCs or Macs per user, plus management and security tools; and A5 adds advanced security and analytics such as Power BI Pro. Institutions pay for A3 and A5, and students receive whatever their school has licensed.

From a student's point of view, the question is simple: does your school login let you download the desktop apps? If you sign in at the Microsoft 365 portal and see an Install apps button, you are on a plan that includes them.

Cause and effect: an education licence belongs to the institution, so when you graduate or leave, your school account is closed and the desktop apps drop into reduced-functionality mode. Save your files somewhere you control before your final term ends.

Is there a Microsoft 365 student discount?

Yes, in some regions. Microsoft's US college offer gives verified full-time and part-time students at accredited colleges and universities a reduced price on Microsoft 365 Personal, which includes the desktop apps, 1 TB of OneDrive storage and Copilot features. Microsoft has also run limited-time free-year offers for US college students, so check what is live when you sign up.

The Microsoft 365 college student pricing page sets out the current terms. Verification accepts a school email, a dated student ID or enrolment letter, and you must sign in with a personal Microsoft account rather than your school account.

Two details catch people out. You must re-verify periodically to keep the discount, and once you stop qualifying the subscription renews at the full price, which Microsoft lists at $99.99 a year for Personal in the US at the time of writing (November 2026).

How do I get the Microsoft 365 student offer?

To get the student offer, open Microsoft's college pricing page while signed in with a personal Microsoft account, start the student verification, prove enrolment with your school email or documents, and then complete checkout. If you belong to someone's Microsoft 365 Family plan, you must leave it first.

1. Sign in at Microsoft's college pricing page with your personal Microsoft account, not your school login.
2. Choose the student offer and start verification.
3. Verify with your school email, or upload a dated student ID, class schedule or acceptance letter.
4. Complete checkout and install the apps from Microsoft 365 > Install apps.
5. Set a calendar reminder for the re-verification date so the discount is not lost.

If the offer is not available in your country, the regular consumer plans still apply. Our comparison of Microsoft 365 Family vs Personal shows when sharing a Family plan with housemates or relatives works out cheaper per person.

Is a one-time Office licence cheaper for students?

Over a three- or four-year degree, a one-time Office licence usually costs less than paying for Microsoft 365 every year at full price, because you pay once and keep using the apps after graduation. A free school plan or an active student discount beats both, so a perpetual licence makes most sense once those options run out.

At the time of writing (November 2026), Microsoft lists Microsoft 365 Personal at $99.99 a year and Office Home 2024 as a $179.99 one-time purchase in the US. Office Home 2024 covers Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote on one PC or Mac, but no Outlook, cloud storage or Copilot.

What we commonly see: students who mostly write essays and build slide decks on one laptop rarely need 1 TB of cloud storage, and a perpetual licence plus the free OneDrive allowance covers them well. Our five-year cost comparison shows how the totals change over time.

Which Office 2024 edition should a student buy?

A student on Windows who wants the full suite should choose Office 2024 Professional Plus, which adds Access and Outlook to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. A student with a Mac needs an edition that installs on macOS, such as Office Home & Business 2024, because Professional Plus is Windows-only.

• Windows laptop, any course: Office 2024 Professional Plus for Windows, useful for business, IT and research courses that teach Access databases.
• MacBook: Office 2024 Home & Business for PC and Mac, which includes Outlook.
• Light use only: the free web apps may be enough.

See the current price on each product page. Office 2024 is supported until 9 October 2029, which covers most degree programmes starting this academic year.

Are free Office alternatives good enough for university work?

For many assignments, yes. Free tools such as the Office web apps, Google Docs and LibreOffice open and save Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, and most essays and presentations look the same. They fall short when coursework relies on advanced Excel features, Access databases, complex reference management or exact formatting that a lecturer marks.

Check your course handbook. Business, accounting, engineering and data courses often specify Excel features such as Power Query or the Data Analysis ToolPak, which are desktop-only.

Our guide to free Office alternatives vs Microsoft Office compares the main options feature by feature.

How can students avoid fake cheap Office deals?

Avoid deals that promise "lifetime Office 365", shared accounts sold by strangers, or downloads that come "pre-activated". These typically rely on someone else's tenant or on cracked activation, and they can stop working at any time or expose your laptop to malware. Buy a key that activates through Microsoft's own servers.

Advanced nuance: Microsoft 365 is always a subscription, so any account described as a permanent Office 365 licence is a user seat in someone else's organisation that its administrator can remove. Our explainer on the Office 365 lifetime licence covers why these accounts are risky.

A legitimate seller provides a product key, a clear licence type and an invoice. If a price looks too low to be real, read the terms before paying.

Frequently asked questions

Do I lose Office when I graduate?

If you use Office through your school account, yes. When the institution closes your account after you leave, the desktop apps lose full functionality and your school OneDrive becomes inaccessible. Move your files to a personal account before graduation, then switch to a personal subscription or a one-time licence such as Office 2024.

Can teachers get free Office too?

Yes. Office 365 Education A1 is available to eligible teachers and staff as well as students, using a valid school email address. Teachers receive the web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook, plus Teams. Desktop apps depend on whether the school licenses a higher plan such as A3 or A5.

Is Microsoft 365 Personal or Family better for students?

Personal suits a student who uses Office alone on their own devices. Family covers up to six people, each with their own storage, so it is cheaper per person if you share it with family members or housemates you trust. Joining someone else's Family plan does, however, block the separate student discount.

Can I install a student Office licence on more than one laptop?

A Microsoft 365 subscription, including student pricing, lets you sign in on up to five devices at once. A one-time Office 2024 licence covers one PC or Mac, so a student with two computers either needs two licences or should use a subscription instead. School A3 licences also allow up to five installs.

Does Office 2024 work offline for exams and lectures?

Yes. Office 2024 installs as desktop apps and runs without an internet connection after activation, which is useful in lecture halls and exam rooms with unreliable Wi-Fi. You only need to go online to activate, download updates or save to OneDrive. Microsoft 365 apps also work offline but must check in periodically.

Related guides

• Office 2024 Professional Plus: download, install and activate
• Office 2024 Home & Business for Mac: install and activate
• Install Microsoft 365 apps on up to 5 devices
• Microsoft Office for small business: licensing guide

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