Dear Microsoft Support Team help environment to practice

Apply for Azure for Students using your institution-issued email address; eligible full-time higher-education students receive $100 in Azure credit for 12 months without a credit card, which can be used for hands-on AZ-104 practice.^1^

1. Apply for Azure for Students

1. Open the Azure for Students page linked from the official program documentation.^1^
2. Select Start free and sign in.
3. Verify your academic status using your school or university email address.
4. Complete the identity and eligibility checks.
5. After activation, sign in to the Azure portal and confirm that Azure for Students appears under Subscriptions.

Eligibility requires that you:

• Are at least 18 years old.
• Attend an accredited, degree-granting two-year or four-year institution as a full-time student.
• Verify your status through your institution’s email address.

The offer is limited to one subscription per eligible student and cannot be transferred. It is not available solely on the basis of attending a MOOC or commercial professional-training course.^1^

The $100 credit is valid for one year, so it covers the requested one-month practice period if your exercises stay within the available credit. Active students can renew annually.^2^

2. Ask your institution about course labs

If your school teaches Microsoft certification courses, ask your instructor or IT department whether it participates in Microsoft Learn for Educators. Participating educators can request lab seats for students taking role-based certification courses. This is arranged by the educator or institution—not by an individual student requesting a personal subscription.^3^

Azure Lab Services can give invited students access to preconfigured virtual machines without requiring each lab user to have an Azure subscription, but the institution must create and fund the lab first.^4^

3. If Azure for Students is unavailable

For an eligible new Azure customer, the standard Azure free account provides $200 credit for the first 30 days and limited free-service quantities for 12 months.^5^

This option has different enrollment requirements and may require payment verification. During the first 30 days, usage of non-free resources is deducted from the credit. When the credit expires or is exhausted, the subscription and services are disabled unless the account is upgraded.^5^

Azure for Students Starter is another no-cost, no-credit-card offer for verified students, but it provides only a limited service set such as App Service, Functions, MySQL, Application Insights, and Azure DevOps. It therefore does not provide the broad Azure resource access needed for every AZ-104 exercise.^6^

Keep the practice environment within its credit

For each lab:

1. Create a separate resource group.
2. Deploy only the resources required by the exercise.
3. Stop or deallocate virtual machines when they are not being used.
4. After completing the exercise, delete its resource group so all contained resources are removed.
5. Monitor the remaining Azure for Students credit through the Azure Sponsorships portal referenced in the program documentation.^2^

Do not upgrade to pay-as-you-go unless you intend to accept billable usage. After an upgrade, resources that were disabled because the credit ran out can be enabled again and start generating charges.^7^

The official AZ-104 study guide also provides self-paced training, documentation, and a free practice assessment; these supplement hands-on work but do not create an Azure subscription.^8^

References

1. What is Azure for Students?
2. Azure for Students
3. Microsoft Learn for Educators Program FAQ
4. What is Azure Lab Services?
5. Avoid charges with your Azure free account
6. Azure for Students Starter
7. Upgrade your Azure free account or Azure for Students Starter account
8. Study guide for Exam AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator