Microsoft 365 for education - cannot find place to check eligibility?

Question

I have added my school domain and have an active trial of office 365 A1 for faculty. When I attempted to use the verification wizard it worked once, but no changes happened nor any messages. Then when I try to do it again it doesn't open and redirects me to the homepage. It still says pending eligibility on the store page when I try to access the discounted prices. What do I do? I need to deploy office 365 for my school ASAP.

Answer 1

Hello @Diana Baffour,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Thank you for reaching out to us. Based on the information you provided, I understand that you are experiencing an issue when attempting to purchase additional licenses for your Education tenant. It appears that you are unable to access the discount page, which is typically available to verified education tenants.

To assist you more effectively, could you please provide the following details:

1. When was your tenant created and submitted for Education eligibility approval? Additionally, how long have you been waiting for Microsoft to verify the eligibility of your Education tenant?
2. Have you successfully added and verified your Education domain within the tenant? If not, please help me to follow this article to add custom domain: Add a Custom Domain to Microsoft 365 - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn
3. Instead of accessing the account page, are you able to go to the Marketplace in the Microsoft 365 admin center and attempt to place an order for the A1 license from there?

For your reference, according to the Microsoft documentation “Verify eligibility for Microsoft 365 Education subscriptions | Microsoft Learn”, the verification process may take up to 10 days. Microsoft will send an email notification once the eligibility review is completed and approved.

Please help me to check those information above and feel free to let me know if you have any further concern.  

Looking forward to hearing from you.  

Answer 2

Use the Microsoft 365 admin center to confirm and complete the academic eligibility process and to see the current status.

1. First, verify that the correct Education trial is active:
   1. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
   2. In Simplified view, select Subscriptions; in Dashboard view, go to Billing > Your products.
   3. Confirm that Office 365 A1 for faculty Trial (and optionally Office 365 A1 for students Trial) are listed as active.
2. Check the eligibility status card:
   1. In the admin center home page, locate the Billing card.
   2. This card shows one of these statuses for academic verification: approved, pending, declined, or add your domain.
   3. If it shows pending, Microsoft is still reviewing the domain; manual review can take up to 10 business days. No academic pricing (including discounted offers in the store) is available until approval is completed.
3. If the verification wizard was closed before completion:
   • If the wizard was exited before entering or finishing the domain step, it can be resumed at any time during the free trial using the academic verification wizard resume link provided in the documentation. Once completed, wait for the review to finish.
4. Confirm trial timing and plan for deployment:
   1. In Billing > Your products, select the trial subscription.
   2. In the Trial subscription section, check the expiration date.
   3. If needed, select Extend trial end date (only once per trial) to gain more time while eligibility is pending and while planning deployment.
5. After approval:
   • Once the status changes to approved, return to the admin center:
     • In Simplified view, go to Subscriptions > Add more products.
     • In Dashboard view, go to Marketplace.
   • Select the Education tab (it appears only after approval) to see and purchase subscriptions at academic prices or convert the trial to a paid subscription.
6. If eligibility is ultimately declined or remains problematic:
   • If the school is not approved as a Microsoft Qualified Academic Institution, commercial offers can still be purchased from the Marketplace page in the admin center.
   • If the organization is a nonprofit, check whether it qualifies for nonprofit offers via the nonprofit eligibility guidance.
   • For questions or issues with the eligibility decision or a stuck status, contact Microsoft support as indicated in the documentation.

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References:

• Verify academic eligibility for Microsoft 365 Education subscriptions
• Microsoft Education Solution Guide – FAQ
• Step 1: Create your Office 365 tenant account.
• Office 365 A1 Plus guidance