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GitHub Student Developer Pack - GitHub Education free 1 year

GitHub Student Developer Pack - GitHub Education free 1 year

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Category
Student
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Eligibility
Currently enrolled students aged 13+ with a valid school-issued email or student ID
Auto Summary
Free bundle of 70+ professional developer tools from GitHub Education for verified students aged 13+. The marquee offer is free GitHub Copilot Pro (the AI coding assistant). Also includes GitHub Pro, JetBrains IDEs, $200 DigitalOcean credit, $100 Azure credit (no-credit-card tier for ages 13–17), free Namecheap .me and Name.com domains, GitHub Codespaces Pro, 1Password, and free access to DataCamp/FrontendMasters/Educative. Apply at education.github.com with proof of current enrollment (school ID with a date, class schedule, or transcript). Open to high school, college, university, and homeschool students; bootcamp/trade-school students often approved with documents. Local Nevada County schools (Sierra College, Nevada Union, etc.) qualify. Benefits last while enrolled, with periodic re-verification. Verified 2026-05-30.
Value
Free access to 100+ developer tools including GitHub Copilot, cloud credits, domains, and learning resources for one year
Espanol
Paquete de Desarrollador Estudiantil de GitHub - GitHub Education gratis por 1 año Acceso gratuito a más de 100 herramientas profesionales de desarrollo para estudiantes, incluyendo GitHub Copilot, créditos en la nube, dominios y recursos de aprendizaje.
URL
https://education.github.com/pack

What it is

The GitHub Student Developer Pack is a free bundle of professional developer tools that GitHub gives to verified students. If you're learning to code — or thinking about it — this is the single biggest free resource available. It includes GitHub Copilot (the AI coding assistant most developers now use daily), free hosting credits, a free domain name, professional code editors, and access to paid learning platforms. Most offers are worth hundreds of dollars on their own. [Source: education.github.com/pack, accessed 2026-05-16]

Who qualifies

You need to be at least 13 years old and currently enrolled in a degree- or diploma-granting program. GitHub's official documentation specifically lists:
  • High school students
  • College / university students
  • Homeschool students
Trade schools and coding bootcamps are not explicitly listed in GitHub's policy, but many bootcamp students have been approved when they can show enrollment documents. Online schools are accepted as long as they grant a recognized diploma or degree. You must currently be enrolled — not just admitted, and not recently graduated.
Note for Nevada County students: Sierra College, Nevada Union, Bear River, Ghidotti, Forest Charter, and homeschool programs (PSP / charter) all count. If you're 13+ and your school issues you an email or an ID card, you can apply.

How to apply (step by step)

  1. Create a free GitHub account at github.com/signup if you don't already have one. Use a username you'll be comfortable showing to a future employer.
  1. Add your school email to your GitHub account at github.com/settings/emails and verify it. A school email speeds approval but is not strictly required.
  1. Go to education.github.com and click Get student benefits (or visit github.com/settings/education/benefits).
  1. Choose "Student" and fill in your school name and graduation date.
  1. Upload one of these proofs of enrollment:
      • A photo of your school ID showing the current enrollment date (a sticker or printed date — not just your name)
      • Your class schedule for the current term
      • A current transcript
      • An enrollment verification letter from your school
  1. Submit and wait. GitHub reviews most applications within a few days. You'll get an email when a decision is made.
[Source: docs.github.com — "Apply to GitHub Education as a student", accessed 2026-05-16]

Top offers worth focusing on

Out of 70+ partner offers, these are the ones that matter most if you're starting out:
  1. GitHub Copilot (free for students) — AI pair-programmer that writes code suggestions as you type, in nearly every editor. Normally $10/month. This is the marquee offer and the single biggest reason to apply.
  1. GitHub Pro — Unlimited private repositories with collaborators, plus advanced tools. Great for keeping homework or personal projects private.
  1. JetBrains IDEs — Free annual subscription to professional IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, CLion, etc.). These are the editors used at most professional software jobs.
  1. DigitalOcean — $200 credit (1 year) — Enough to run a small web app or game server for free for most of a year. The easiest hosting platform to learn.
  1. Microsoft Azure — $100 credit + 25+ services — Cloud services for students. A version with no credit card required is available for ages 13–17.
  1. Namecheap — Free .me domain + 1 year SSL — Your first real website address. Most students use this for a personal portfolio site.
  1. Name.com — Free domain in .live, .studio, .dev, or 20+ other extensions, free for one year.
  1. GitHub Codespaces (Pro) — A full coding environment that runs in your browser. Useful on a Chromebook, library computer, or any machine that can't install dev tools.
  1. DataCamp / FrontendMasters / Educative — Free months of access to paid learning platforms. Pick one and finish a course — the structured path matters more than the platform.
  1. 1Password (1 year free) — A password manager. Set this up before you start collecting API keys and logins for the other offers. Genuinely the most useful "boring" tool in the pack.
[Source: education.github.com/pack, accessed 2026-05-16]
There are many more offers — Notion, MongoDB, Sentry, BrowserStack, Stripe fee waivers, learning platforms, design tools, certification vouchers. Don't try to use them all. Pick 2–3 from the list above, build one real project, and explore the rest only when you need them.

Common rejection reasons (and how to fix them)

GitHub doesn't publish an official list of rejection reasons, but the most common ones reported by students are:
  • ID photo doesn't show a current enrollment date. A photo of just your name and student number isn't enough. Look for a date sticker, term label, or expiration date on the card. If your ID doesn't show one, upload your class schedule or a transcript instead.
  • Document is blurry, cropped, or hard to read. Take the photo straight-on, with good light. Show all four corners.
  • Document is too old. Use something dated within the current school year.
  • No school email on the GitHub account. Add and verify a school email if you have one — it noticeably speeds approval.
If you're denied, you can reapply. Fix the issue first, then submit again with a clearer document.

Duration and renewal

Benefits are valid while you're a student. GitHub re-verifies your enrollment periodically (commonly once a year). When that happens, you'll get an email and need to upload current proof of enrollment to keep your benefits active. Most individual partner offers run for 1 year at a time; some are shorter (3 or 6 months), and a few — like GitHub Pro and Copilot — last as long as your student status is verified.
If you stop being a student, the free GitHub Pro and Copilot benefits end, but anything you've already built — repositories, deployed websites, code in your GitHub account — stays yours.
Source: education.github.com/pack and docs.github.com — Apply to GitHub Education as a student
Last verified: 2026-05-16