Above was a screenshot of an email to me from GitHub Education, reading:

To our educator community,

We want to keep you informed about an upcoming update that will change how GitHub Copilot is packaged and managed for students. 

At GitHub, we believe the next generation of developers should have access to the latest industry technology. That commitment is central to GitHub Education, and it’s why verified students can use GitHub Copilot for free. Today, nearly two million students rely on Copilot to build, learn, and explore new ideas.

As Copilot continues to evolve quickly—with new capabilities, models, and experiences shipping at a rapid pace—and as student usage continues to grow globally, we are making some adjustments to ensure we can continue to provide GitHub Copilot access to students worldwide for free.

We support a global community of students and teachers across thousands of universities and dozens of time zones, so we’re being intentional about how we roll out changes, starting small and validating what works.

What’s changing for students 
Starting today, March 12, 2026, students’ Copilot access will be managed under a new GitHub Copilot Student plan, alongside their existing GitHub Education benefits. Their academic verification status will not change, and there is nothing students need to do to continue using Copilot. They will see that they are on the GitHub Copilot Student plan in the UI; 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—will no longer be available for self-selection under the student plan. We know this will be disappointing, but we’re making this change so we can provide a sustainable offering and keep Copilot free and accessible for millions of students around the world. Ensuring long-term, sustainable access for the entire student community means making difficult tradeoffs today.

That said, through Auto mode, students will 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 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, some students may see additional adjustments to available models or usage limits on certain features—the specifics of which we'll be testing with student feedback. We will make sure to share full details and timelines before we ship broader changes.

What’s not changing

GitHub Copilot remains free for verified students as part of GitHub Education.

Verified educators will continue to receive complimentary access to GitHub Copilot Pro.