How do I renew my Office 365 Education license after extending my student status?

Your school’s Microsoft 365 administrator must renew or reassign your Education license; extending your student status does not itself refresh the license in Word.

Ask your school to restore the license

Contact the school’s IT help desk or Microsoft 365 administrator and provide:

• Your school account username.
• Confirmation that your student enrollment was extended.
• The exact warning displayed in Word.
• A request to verify that a Microsoft 365 Education license containing the desktop apps is assigned to your account.

Education licenses are managed by the institution. If a student license was reclaimed, the installed desktop apps enter reduced-functionality mode and display licensing notifications until an eligible subscription is activated again.^1^

If you are the school administrator, restore it in the Microsoft 365 admin center:

1. Go to Users → Active users.
2. Select the student.
3. Open Licenses and Apps.
4. Select the appropriate Microsoft 365 Education license.
5. Ensure the required Office/Microsoft 365 Apps services are enabled.
6. Select Save changes.

This requires at least the License Administrator or User Administrator role. If assignment fails, check Billing → Licenses → product → Errors & Issues for causes such as no available licenses, conflicting plans, or an invalid usage location.^2^

Refresh Word after the assignment

After the school confirms that the license is assigned:

1. Close Word and every other Office application.
2. Reopen Word and go to File → Account.
3. If Word shows Sign in or Reactivate, select it.
4. Sign in with the school account receiving the Education license, not a personal Microsoft account.
5. Close and reopen Word once more.

Microsoft documents that signing in activates Office after deactivation, and that all Office applications should be closed after a subscription is renewed so the warning can clear.[^3^](https://support.microsoft.com/accounts-billing/subscriptions/[Subscription ID] "A subscription notice appears when I open a Microsoft 365 application | Microsoft Support")

Do not select Buy unless you intentionally want a separate personal subscription. That purchase path is for individually purchased Microsoft 365 subscriptions, not renewal of a school-controlled Education license.

If the warning remains

If the administrator confirms that the correct license—including desktop Microsoft 365 Apps—is assigned but Word still reports Unlicensed Product, ask the school’s IT team to troubleshoot the local activation state. On Windows 10 or later, Microsoft’s Microsoft 365 activation troubleshooter can identify and repair activation problems; it must be run on the affected PC.^4^

Until the license is restored, Word may eventually allow only opening and printing documents rather than editing or creating them. Microsoft 365 for the web can be used temporarily in a browser.[^3^](https://support.microsoft.com/accounts-billing/subscriptions/[Subscription ID] "A subscription notice appears when I open a Microsoft 365 application | Microsoft Support")

References

1. Manage graduating student licenses and content in Microsoft 365 Education | Microsoft Support
2. Assign or unassign licenses for users in the Microsoft 365 admin center
3. [A subscription notice appears when I open a Microsoft 365 application | Microsoft Support](https://support.microsoft.com/accounts-billing/subscriptions/[Subscription ID])
4. Unlicensed Product and activation errors in Office | Microsoft Support