Student Pack rejected repeatedly: distance-learning (EAD) enrollment not recognized — name and campus-proximity checks failing incorrectly

[DevJoaoLopes]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Verification Help & Guidance

Hi everyone,

I've applied for the Student Developer Pack several times and every attempt is rejected with the same three reasons. I've read the pinned FAQ (#111352) and the documentation on common reasons applications are not approved, and as far as I can tell all three points are already satisfied — so I'd appreciate help working out what the automated review is actually objecting to.

The rejection message I receive

We were unfortunately not able to verify your academic status. Please address the following issues and apply again.

• Please ensure that your academic affiliation document contains your last name exactly as it appears in your GitHub billing information. If you have only a single legal name, enter it in both the first and last name fields of your GitHub billing information.
• Please ensure that your academic affiliation document contains your first name exactly as it appears in your GitHub billing information. Variations of your name and nicknames are unacceptable.
• You appear not to be near any campus location for the school you have selected. Your academic affiliation documentation must indicate virtual learning if you are remote. You must configure your browser and operating system to allow location access. You may not use a VPN. If you believe that our information about your school is incomplete or incorrect e.g. missing campus location(s), then please select 'My selected school has incorrect or incomplete information e.g. domains or campus location' option when submitting a GitHub Education support ticket.

What I have already verified

Name fields. The first and last name in my GitHub billing information are character-for-character identical to the full name printed on my enrollment document. No nicknames, no abbreviations, no reordering, no missing middle names. I re-check this before every submission.

Distance learning. I am enrolled in a fully online distance-learning program at a Brazilian institution (this modality is called EAD — Ensino a Distância). My enrollment document explicitly states the modality on its face, which is what the FAQ asks distance-learning students to provide. Because the program is 100% remote, I genuinely am not near any physical campus.

Location check. No VPN or proxy on any attempt, always on my normal home connection in the same country as my institution, with location services enabled at the OS level and granted to the browser when prompted. I have, however, intermittently hit the "Error getting location. Try again?" message, and I've worked through the FAQ's troubleshooting for it — cleared cookies and cache, disabled extensions, tried a different browser, and logged out and back in before reapplying.

Document. An official, current-term enrollment certificate issued by the institution, showing my full legal name, the institution's name, the distance-learning modality, and the enrollment period.

Where I think the problem might be, and what I'd like to confirm

1. Accented characters in names. My legal name contains accented characters (e.g. the "ã" in "João"). The FAQ's translation section advises providing a typed translation "without using special characters / accent marks" and notes that the name on the account may need to match the translated proof. Should the name in my GitHub billing information be written with accents (matching the original document), without accents (matching a translation), or something else? I'm wondering whether this is why both name checks fail even though the two names look identical to me.

2. Language of the modality statement. My document states the modality in Portuguese ("EAD" / "Ensino a Distância"). Does the distance-learning indication need to be in English for the reviewer to recognise it? Should I photograph the original next to a typed English translation, as the FAQ suggests for evidence generally?

3. Proximity rejection vs. a failed location read. Given that I sometimes see "Error getting location. Try again?", is there any way to tell whether a proximity rejection reflects a location read that succeeded and placed me far from campus, or one that silently failed or was degraded? The rejection wording appears to be identical either way, so I can't tell which problem I'm actually supposed to be fixing.

4. Weighting of the proximity check. For a 100% remote program, does documented distance learning fully satisfy the campus-proximity requirement, or is geographic proximity still weighted even when the modality is proven? If it is still weighted, what is the correct path for a fully-online student who is legitimately nowhere near a campus?

5. Support ticket category. Is "My selected school has incorrect or incomplete information e.g. domains or campus location" the right category for a remote-modality problem, or is that intended only for genuinely missing campus/domain data? I'd rather file under the correct category than add noise to the wrong queue.

Happy to provide any further detail that would help — though per the guidance above I'm not attaching the document itself here.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

[MuzammilCk]

Hello! Your initial check for the common requirements is very detailed. I think the next step to make should be reaching out to GitHub Education Support, instead of submitting the application over and over again.

Here are some suggestions based on the things you mentioned:

• Names: Make sure your GitHub billing information name corresponds with the name stated in the document you are going to submit for verification. Also, make sure that if you translate the name, you do it according to the FAQ instructions concerning the usage of special characters.
• Distance learning: As your certificate explicitly mentions that you are enrolled in the EAD (Ensino a Distância) program, it might be helpful to add an English translation of the document.
• Location: If you receive intermittently “Error getting location” message, I'd suggest not to assume that the proximity rejection message means that the location you are in was found. As you have already tried to deal with this issue according to the instructions provided, I think it should be mentioned in your support ticket.
• Fully remote students: If your program is fully remote indeed, your document should prove it. However, only GitHub Education Support can clarify