GitHub Copilot Downgraded to Free Plan Despite Active Student Developer Pack

[LucianFildan]

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Hi GitHub Community,

I’m encountering an issue with GitHub Copilot. I am currently enrolled in the GitHub Student Developer Pack, which previously provided unlimited access to GitHub Copilot. However, my account was recently downgraded to the free plan, which imposes limitations on code completions and chat interactions.

Here’s what I’ve already tried:

Verified that my Student Developer Pack is still active at GitHub Education.
Checked my account settings for GitHub Copilot.
Contacted GitHub Support but received a general response to check the Education Pack benefits, which didn’t resolve my issue.
I am still an active student and can provide proof if necessary.

Has anyone else experienced a similar issue? If so, how did you resolve it? Any guidance from the community or GitHub team would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your help!

Best regards,
Lucian

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[bosstimmy]

i have desame issues my student application got accepted 1 week ago, however my copilot plan still shows free... how to get the pro?

[davevad93]

Hi @LucianFildan ,

A couple a weeks ago there was an issue affecting complimentary access to GitHub Copilot Pro for student, although it has been solved now.

Maybe your issue is similar to this one #145598 which has been solved by doing the following:

Go to the pack offers page, scroll down to the "All offers" section and select Copilot, if you can redeem it you are fine, if you can't, I suggest you to contact support again by raising a ticket here, select "I am a verified student having trouble redeeming my Global Campus offers" and explain your problem.

[marqquees]

I was also having the same error and with this solution presented by @davevad93 I managed to solve my problem. Thank you.

[davevad93]

You're welcome @marqquees 👍

[SeckinTataroglu]

@davevad93 thanks for the guidance. As of today, I encountered the same issue and followed your suggestions on creating a ticket; however, I ended up with the following autogenerated response.

If anyone has a solution to this issue, I am all ears!

What you’re seeing lines up with how Copilot student access works right now, and there’s an important timing rule that explains why the plan isn’t switching.

Why this is happening
Even though your GitHub Education status is verified and your Student Developer Pack is active, Copilot Student / Copilot Pro student benefits can’t be newly activated at the moment.

Per the official docs:

Starting April 20, 2026, new sign-ups for Copilot Pro, Copilot Pro+, and student plans are temporarily paused.

This applies even if:

Your Education verification was approved before that date
The Student Developer Pack shows as verified and valid through 2028
The Copilot coupon appears applied
You successfully reach the redemption page
Source:

Access GitHub Copilot for free as a student (opens in a new tab)
Because of this pause, redemption flows currently do not upgrade accounts from Copilot Free to Copilot Pro (Student) if the student Copilot plan wasn’t already active before April 20, 2026.

That’s why:

Copilot settings continue to show “GitHub Copilot Free”
Reauth, incognito, OAuth resets, and waiting don’t change the plan
There’s no billing entry for Copilot Pro
About the redeem link you used
https://github.com/github-copilot/free_signup only activates Copilot Free.
It does not force or override student/pro eligibility, and it won’t switch your plan during the signup pause.

What GitHub Support can and cannot do
Support can’t manually apply the Copilot Student or Pro plan while new sign-ups are paused. Plan activation is handled automatically by the Copilot enrollment system, and manual overrides aren’t available.

What you can do next
Right now

You can continue using Copilot Free
Your Education verification remains valid and unaffected
When sign-ups resume

Your existing student verification should make you eligible immediately
You won’t need to reapply for GitHub Education
Activation should appear automatically in Copilot settings
To keep an eye on the status:

Check Copilot settings: https://github.com/settings/copilot (opens in a new tab)
Monitor updates on the Copilot docs page you already referenced
If this didn’t help, I’m here to help! Could you provide a bit more detail or clarify your question so I can better assist you?

[TSNFiber]

im literally having the same issue now, like what do you mean "new sign-ups for Copilot Pro, Copilot Pro+, and student plans are temporarily paused." my student status is already verified

[SeckinTataroglu]

I can't agree more! They messed up badly! And the responses I get are unbelievable!
This is an expose, but it is needed for everyone to see how their approach is rude and silly.

Note: I was on Pro plan already, since my university asked me to subscribe to the student plan, so I did! Below is what I face with!

Hello again,

You signed for student copilot and then moved to paid Copilot Pro forfeiting your Student Copilot Plan. You might not recall but you scheduled a downgrade to Copilot Free on April 13. As such you were downgraded to the Copilot Free plan on the next billing date.

As stated earlier, if you're trying to purchase Copilot Pro/Pro+ or enable Copilot via student benefits, you’d need to wait as we don't have a timeline we can share yet.

GitHub Support cannot re-enable or manually activate Copilot subscriptions.

There is nothing further we can do here I'm afraid.
Regards,

[erfanshayegani]

This also helped me resolve my issue! Thank you so much!