**Subject: Azure for Students signup eligibility error** Hello Microsoft Support, I am a university student trying to activate Azure for Students. I receive the message “You're not eligible for an Azure free account.” I have a college email address, bu

Azure for Students does not require a payment card, so first have your university IT administrator confirm that your institution and its Microsoft tenant are registered and verified as an academic institution; if they confirm this, ask them to open a Microsoft support ticket for a backend eligibility review.

Confirm that the student offer applies

Having a college email address alone does not establish eligibility. Azure for Students requires all of the following:

• You are at least 18 years old.
• You are a full-time student.
• You attend an accredited, degree-granting two-year or four-year institution.
• You can verify your academic status through the institution-issued email address.
• You have not already received the offer as another Azure for Students subscription; it is limited to one per eligible customer.

The qualifying offer provides USD 100 in Azure credit and does not require a credit card.^1^

Complete the verification path

1. Contact your university IT department or Microsoft 365 administrator. Ask them to confirm:
   • Your student account is active.
   • The email address is the institution-issued account associated with your student record.
   • The university’s Microsoft tenant is registered and verified as an academic institution.
2. If the tenant is verified, ask the administrator to raise a Microsoft support ticket.
   A closely matching Azure for Students case with the same eligibility message directs the school administrator to request backend investigation after confirming the institution’s academic registration.^2^
3. Provide the diagnostic details privately in the ticket:
   • Exact error text
   • Date, time, and time zone of the failed attempt
   • Session ID or correlation ID
   • Institution name and student-email domain
   • Screenshot with personal information obscured
   • Confirmation that you are a current full-time student
   • Whether you previously redeemed Azure for Students under any Microsoft account

Do not publish the session ID, email address, tenant details, or other account identifiers in a public Q&A post.

If you can create the request yourself

In the Azure portal, select ? in the global header, describe the signup or subscription-management issue, follow the recommended checks, and then select Create a support request. Azure provides subscription-management support, but creating a request without a subscription requires an appropriate Microsoft Entra administrator role; otherwise, the university administrator should submit it.^3^

The generic “free account” wording does not mean that a card should be added to the student offer. A payment card is relevant to the ordinary Azure free account, not to qualified Azure for Students enrollment.

References

1. What is Azure for Students?
2. Azure for Students says "You're not eligible" despite using my university email - Microsoft Q&A
3. Create an Azure support request