GitHub Updates Copilot Access for Students (March 2026)
GitHub recently announced an update regarding how GitHub Copilot will be provided to verified students. The goal is to ensure that Copilot remains free and sustainable for millions of students worldwide.
Key Changes
Starting March 12, 2026, Copilot access for verified students will be managed under a new plan called:
GitHub Copilot Student Plan
Students who already have GitHub Education benefits do not need to take any action. Their Copilot access will continue automatically.
Model Availability Changes
As part of this transition, some premium models will no longer be available for manual selection under the student plan, including:
GPT-5.4
Claude Opus
Claude Sonnet
Although these models are removed from manual selection, students will still have access to powerful AI models through Auto mode.
Auto Mode
With Auto mode, Copilot automatically selects the most suitable model for the task. These models may come from providers such as:
GitHub plans to continue improving Auto mode and adding new models over time.
Why This Change?
GitHub states that these adjustments are necessary to:
Keep Copilot free for verified students
Support a growing global student community
Maintain long-term sustainability of the service
Future Updates
GitHub will continue collecting feedback from students and educators and may adjust:
Available models
Feature limits
Usage policies
Additionally, GitHub is working on making it easier for students to upgrade from the Copilot Student plan to Copilot Pro in the future.
Source
GitHub Official Announcement – GitHub Copilot for Students Update (March 2026)
At GitHub, we believe the next generation of developers should have access to the latest industry technology. That’s why we provide students with free access to the GitHub Student Developer Pack, run the Campus Experts program to help student leaders build tech communities, and partner with Major League Hacking (MLH) and Hack Club to support student hackathons and youth-led coding communities. It’s also why we offer verified students free access to GitHub Copilot—today, nearly two million students are using it to build, learn, and explore new ideas.
Copilot is evolving quickly, with new capabilities, models, and experiences shipping fast. As Copilot evolves and the student community continues to grow, we need to make some adjustments to ensure we can provide sustainable, long-term GitHub Copilot access to students worldwide.
Our commitment to providing free access to GitHub Copilot for verified students is not changing. What is changing is how Copilot is packaged and managed for students.
What this means for you
Starting today, March 12, 2026, your complimentary Copilot access will be managed under a new GitHub Copilot Student plan, alongside your existing GitHub Education benefits. Your academic verification status will not change, and there is nothing you need to do to continue using Copilot. You will see that you are on the GitHub Copilot Student plan in the UI, and your existing premium request unit (PRU) entitlements will remain unchanged.
As part of this transition, however, some premium models, including GPT-5.4, and Claude Opus and Sonnet models, will no longer be available for self-selection under the GitHub Copilot Student Plan. We know this will be disappointing, but we’re making this change so we can keep Copilot free and accessible for millions of students around the world.
That said, through Auto mode, you'll continue to have access to a powerful set of models from providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. We'll keep adding new models and expanding the intelligence in Auto mode that helps match the right model to your task and workflow. We support a global community of students across thousands of universities and dozens of time zones, so we’re being intentional about how we roll out changes. Over the coming weeks, we will be making additional adjustments to available models or usage limits on certain features — the specifics of which we'll be testing with your feedback.
We want your input
Your experience matters to us, and your feedback will directly shape how this plan evolves. Leave a comment below, what's working for you, what gets in the way, and what you need most. We will also be continuing to host 1:1 conversations with students, educators, and Campus Experts, and using insights from our recent November 2025 student survey to help inform what's next.
GitHub's investment in students is not slowing down. We are committed to ensuring that Copilot remains a powerful, free tool for verified students, and we will continue to improve and expand the student experience over time.
We will share updates as we learn more from testing and your feedback. Thank you for building with us.
We’re currently working on making it easier to upgrade from your GitHub Student plan to GitHub Copilot Pro*. We’ll share an update here soon*
https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/189268#discussioncomment-16108204
