Insights
Buying Guide: Microsoft 365 for Education After A1 and the Student Use Benefit
Microsoft is retiring free A1 and the Student Use Benefit. What changes at your renewal, the new A0–A7 lineup, and how to plan before student licenses become a line item.
For years, schools ran students on free Office 365 A1 and gave them A3 or A5 through the Student Use Benefit. Microsoft is ending both. Starting with your first renewal after the change dates, student licenses become a line item, so the time to plan is before that renewal, not at it.
This guide is for CIOs, CFOs and procurement leaders at universities, colleges and K–12 districts.
First, the terms
- A0, A1, A2, A3, A5, A7: Microsoft's education license levels. A0 is the most basic and A7 the most complete. They match the business E3, E5 and E7 plans, with education pricing.
- Faculty and student editions: separate licenses for staff and for students, with different prices and features.
- Student Use Benefit (SUB): today's arrangement where paying for faculty licenses gives students matching licenses at no extra cost. It's being retired.
- Pooled storage: one shared pot of cloud storage for the whole school, split across OneDrive (personal files), SharePoint (shared sites) and Exchange (email).
- Exchange Online for Alumni: free email accounts for graduates. Also being retired.
- Intune for Education: Microsoft's tool to set up and manage school laptops and tablets remotely.
- Entra ID: Microsoft's sign-in and identity system, formerly Azure Active Directory. P1 adds more security controls.
- Copilot: Microsoft's AI assistant inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams.
- Renewal or enrollment: the date your current Microsoft education agreement ends and is renewed. Most changes in this guide take effect then.
- CSP (Cloud Solution Provider): Microsoft's partner program for buying licenses through a partner.
What changed
On November 5, 2026, Microsoft announced the biggest change to its education lineup in years.
- Free A1 and the Student Use Benefit are retiring. So is free Exchange Online for Alumni. (LazyAdmin)
- A new lineup replaces them. A0, A2, A3, A5 and A7, with separate faculty and student editions, each with or without Teams. You can mix plans by user group. (LazyAdmin)
- The free 100 TB storage pool goes away. Today every education tenant gets 100 TB plus storage per paid license. After the change, the pool is built only from paid licenses. (LazyAdmin)
- Faculty suites with Teams keep their price. Microsoft says those prices won't change, and A3 and A5 faculty gain some security features. (LazyAdmin)
The timeline
Changes hit at your first renewal or extension on or after each date, not on one day for everyone. (LazyAdmin)
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| October 1, 2026 | A7 (A5 plus Microsoft 365 Copilot, Agent 365 and Entra Suite) available |
| December 1, 2026 | Student A2 available |
| May 1, 2027 | New pricing applies at first renewal on or after this date |
| January 1, 2028 | A0 and student A3/A5 available; A1 retires. Enrollments started before this date keep A1 and the Student Use Benefit until their term ends |
The new student lineup
| Plan | What students get | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| A0 | Microsoft 365 Apps, OneDrive, Minecraft Education. Free | No email, Teams or SharePoint. Only if all faculty are on A2 or higher, and students use Windows devices |
| A2 | Apps, email, SharePoint, Classroom, Copilot Chat, Entra ID P1, basic device management | No Intune for Education or Windows 11 Education |
| A3 | A2 plus Intune for Education and Windows 11 Education | Paid per student |
| A5 | A3 plus advanced security and analytics | Paid per student |
Source: LazyAdmin. Microsoft hasn't published prices for the new plans yet.
How to decide
- Find your renewal date. That date, not Microsoft's announcement, sets when you're hit. An early or extended enrollment before January 1, 2028 can keep A1 and the Student Use Benefit for that term.
- Split students into groups. Plans can be mixed by group, so not every student needs the same license. Think of online-only learners, residential students and lab users.
- Decide who needs email and Teams. A0 has neither. Teams is optional on every paid plan, which can lower the price.
- Model storage. Without the 100 TB base pool, schools with large OneDrive and SharePoint use may need to buy storage or clean up.
- Plan for alumni. Free alumni mailboxes end; decide whether to pay, migrate or retire them.
- Price Copilot separately. A7 bundles it; otherwise it's an add-on.
Traps
- Waiting for the renewal notice. By then the options are narrower and the timeline is Microsoft's.
- Licensing every student the same. Mixed plans by group cost less.
- Forgetting the A0 conditions. It only works if every faculty member is on A2 or higher and students use Windows devices.
- Losing storage you didn't know you were using. Check consumption before the pool shrinks.
- Missing security add-ons you already pay for. A3 and A5 faculty are gaining features; don't buy them twice from another vendor.
Questions to ask before renewal
- When is our renewal or extension, and could we extend before January 1, 2028?
- How many students, faculty, staff and alumni do we license today, and on which plans?
- Which student groups need email, Teams or managed devices?
- How much pooled storage do we use, and what will we have after renewal?
- What will the new lineup cost us over three years, compared with today?
- What do we do about alumni mailboxes?
- Do we need Copilot, and for whom?
How IQ4hire helps
IQ4hire sources Microsoft education licensing through Channel Exchange, part of ScanSource. We'll map your users to the new plans, model the cost before your renewal, check whether extending early makes sense, and handle license transfers with a full cost analysis. The same team can bring in education security, backup and device management from our pre-vetted portfolio.
Sources
- LazyAdmin, Microsoft retires Office 365 A1 and the Student Use Benefit
- Directions on Microsoft, education licensing coverage