Microsoft

Who is eligible for the free Microsoft Office 365 A1 plan?

“Educators and students with an eligible education email address can get Office 365 A1 for free.”

How long can I use the Office 365 Education plan?

“You can use the Office 365 Education plan as long as you are working at, or enrolled in, a qualified educational organization. Your eligibility may be re-verified at any time.”

What can I do if I’m not eligible?

“Get free access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint using Microsoft 365 for the web (formerly Office 365). Start today.”

How long does it take to be approved as a qualified academic institution?

“In many cases, the response time is instantaneous through an automated verification process. In other cases where an institution needs to be verified, it may take up to a month to confirm eligibility. If you are nearing the end of your 30-day trial and have not received approval of eligibility, please contact customer support.”

What is the difference between Office 365 and Microsoft 365 Education?

“Microsoft 365 builds on top of Office 365 apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook and provides enhanced management, security, and compliance tools. Learn more about Microsoft 365.”

What is Microsoft 365 Education?

“Microsoft 365 Education delivers a secure, integrated platform that supports student learning today—while preparing institutions and learners for an AI-powered future.”

What is the difference between Office 365 and Microsoft 365 Education?

“Microsoft 365 Education includes Office 365 apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook and also brings AI-powered education tools, enhanced management, security, and compliance tools.”

What type of data and analytics tools and capabilities does Microsoft 365 Education provide?

“Education Insights: Education Insights is a free, out-of-the-box analytics solution for schools using Teams for Education. It automatically connects key apps within Teams and the Microsoft 365 graph and makes student data easy to access for teachers and education leaders.”

How much does Microsoft 365 Education cost?

“There are three tiers of Microsoft 365 Education available, each with an array of helpful and inclusively designed features. Connect with one of our education experts to learn more about pricing and see how you can build an individualized plan that works best for your institution. Contact a sales partner”

What version of Microsoft 365 Education is right for my institution?

Microsoft describes three Microsoft 365 Education tiers: A1, A3 and A5. The differences concern the classroom applications, device administration and security capabilities an institution needs.

A1 uses a one-time licence for each device. Its listed applications include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams and Minecraft: Education Edition. Intune for Education is also included, allowing institutions to administer devices through a central cloud dashboard. A3 includes the A1 features and adds Bookings and Live Events, together with more advanced security, management and analytics capabilities.

A5 includes A3’s teaching and learning features and provides a broader set of compliance, security and management tools. When comparing the tiers, consider both the applications your students and staff need and the administration, analytics and compliance work your institution must support. That makes the choice about the institution’s requirements, rather than simply selecting the plan with the longest feature list.