Important Updates to GitHub Copilot for Students 🎒 #189268
Replies: 1575 comments 1031 replies
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disappointed. |
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Downhill |
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no sonnet and opus??? 😭😭😭 |
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Nothing will change except you cannot use the good models anymore... thanks. |
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Double it & give it to the next ai agrent. Thx. |
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Horrible change |
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Disappointed |
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Why all this corporate nonsense text? Just say you want to cut cost and thus remove the expensive models. |
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yes it is. atleast sonnet. yup bye bye github |
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Bad system |
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Keep advanced models, don't be greedy!! |
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This is just greedy. |
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Is there still a chance that Sonnet and Opus gets selected by Auto? |
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disappointed |
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yeah let's make an even bigger gap between huge research orgs and public ! yay! |
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other options: |
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is there a tutorial for this? ty in advance @martinwoodward |
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This has made the student pack useless for me in its entirity. I only used it to access Opus when chatting with Gemini/GPT thourgh their web interfaces or using local models wasn't enough and I needed a better model to access my codebase directly. This change makes the entire student plan pointless for me. |
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not a good surprise |
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The last update made the interface way complicated and frustrating to use. now all the models that made it worth it are behind a pay wall for students. Can't imagine future updates will improve anything. at this point I'd rather pay for cursor than pay for crappy Microsoft solutions... |
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github copilot inflated too? |
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This is quite unfortunate, while I get the costs stuff to some extent The github copilot plan is now useless. You removed the true frontier and SOTA AI models. At least give us the frontier back. |
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Really Disappointed! this is like disabling the whole GitHub Copilot in the Students pack, it's not useful anymore! students like us can't afford the cost of using big "useful models" like Opus! who agree? |
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So I was very annoyed when this happened, but every cloud has a silver lining. This change gave me the push to try out a paid Claude Code account instead of Github Copilot, and I'm glad I did. My productivity has gone way up - it's way more stable, and the workflow is much faster and smoother. Now, the latest sneaky move from Github - they're automatically opting-in everyone's data on Github (including from private repositories) for training their AI (https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/26/github_ai_training_policy_changes/). I've been an active GitHub user since 2013, and it's been sad to watch it turn into user-hostile garbage. I know it's only going to get worse though, so I'm moving development to codeberg going forward. |
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This update is deeply disappointing. Limiting GitHub Copilot in the Student Pack undermines its usefulness for students, many of whom rely on such programs because they cannot afford premium access to advanced models like Opus. This really breaks my today's ambitious plans and mood. |
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bad decision at least student should have access of these other model is shit only just used 10 day only |
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Very disappointed. I finally got the chance to create a project that truly helps the community and is actually being used by a foundation. I was able to build my biggest project for free for the community, even though it was really difficult. But thanks to Claude Sonnet on GitHub, I could make it happen. I really hope you reconsider bringing Sonnet back. |
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Hello, I recently noticed that GitHub Copilot has removed the Opus model from the education plan. If you truly aim to support students, I’d like to suggest a more accessible pricing option. Instead of the current setup, you could consider lowering the discounted plan from $4 and offering Pro access at around $6 per month for students. This kind of adjustment would make advanced features more reachable for those who are still learning and may have limited budgets. Thank you for your consideration. |
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L |
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At GitHub, we believe the next generation of developers should have access to the latest industry technology. That’s why we provide students with free access to the GitHub Student Developer Pack, run the Campus Experts program to help student leaders build tech communities, and partner with Major League Hacking (MLH) and Hack Club to support student hackathons and youth-led coding communities. It’s also why we offer verified students free access to GitHub Copilot—today, nearly two million students are using it to build, learn, and explore new ideas.
Copilot is evolving quickly, with new capabilities, models, and experiences shipping fast. As Copilot evolves and the student community continues to grow, we need to make some adjustments to ensure we can provide sustainable, long-term GitHub Copilot access to students worldwide.
Our commitment to providing free access to GitHub Copilot for verified students is not changing. What is changing is how Copilot is packaged and managed for students.
What this means for you
Starting today, March 12, 2026, your complimentary Copilot access will be managed under a new GitHub Copilot Student plan, alongside your existing GitHub Education benefits. Your academic verification status will not change, and there is nothing you need to do to continue using Copilot. You will see that you are on the GitHub Copilot Student plan in the UI, and your existing premium request unit (PRU) entitlements will remain unchanged.
As part of this transition, however, some premium models, including GPT-5.4, and Claude Opus and Sonnet models, will no longer be available for self-selection under the GitHub Copilot Student Plan. We know this will be disappointing, but we’re making this change so we can keep Copilot free and accessible for millions of students around the world.
That said, through Auto mode, you'll continue to have access to a powerful set of models from providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. We'll keep adding new models and expanding the intelligence in Auto mode that helps match the right model to your task and workflow. We support a global community of students across thousands of universities and dozens of time zones, so we’re being intentional about how we roll out changes. Over the coming weeks, we will be making additional adjustments to available models or usage limits on certain features — the specifics of which we'll be testing with your feedback.
We want your input
Your experience matters to us, and your feedback will directly shape how this plan evolves. Leave a comment below, what's working for you, what gets in the way, and what you need most. We will also be continuing to host 1:1 conversations with students, educators, and Campus Experts, and using insights from our recent November 2025 student survey to help inform what's next.
GitHub's investment in students is not slowing down. We are committed to ensuring that Copilot remains a powerful, free tool for verified students, and we will continue to improve and expand the student experience over time.
We will share updates as we learn more from testing and your feedback. Thank you for building with us.
Update March 13: We've now added the option so folks can upgrade from your GitHub Copilot Student plan to a paid GitHub Copilot Pro or GitHub Copilot Pro+ plan if you want to, while retaining the rest of your GitHub Student Pack benefits.
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