Request for Microsoft 365 Education (A1) Plan Activation – Verification Still Pending

Question

Our institution, [Moderator note: personal info removed], has completed all required steps for Microsoft 365 Education eligibility, including domain verification and activation of the EDU trial. However, our education verification status is still pending for over three months, despite the expected timeline being much shorter.

We have carefully followed all official guidance and requirements, but there has been no progress or resolution, and we have not received any meaningful update regarding the delay.

We are interested in accessing the Microsoft 365 A1 (free education plan) for our students and faculty. This issue is currently blocking us from proceeding further.

Answer 1

As this forum is a public platform, we’ve taken steps to help protect your privacy by removing your organization’s domain name from your message. To ensure your data remains secure, we kindly recommend avoiding the inclusion of personal or organizational details such as domain names or screenshots with sensitive information in future posts.   

---

Hi @Krishna Acharya, 

I hope you are doing well today.  

I am writing to confirm that your institution's Microsoft 365 Education (A1) verification for your school domain has been pending beyond the expected timeframe, and I completely understand how important it is for your students and faculty to gain access to these tools without further delay. 

Education verification delays of this nature typically occur when our backend eligibility system requires additional time to cross-reference institutional domain records against recognized education databases, or when there is a mismatch in the domain registration details submitted during the verification process. In some cases, high volumes of verification requests across regions can also extend the standard processing window beyond the usual timeline. Please be assured that this does not reflect any issue with your institution's eligibility or the steps you have already completed. 

To help move your verification forward as quickly as possible, please follow these steps carefully: 

1/ Confirm your Education trial subscriptions and the current verification status in the Microsoft 365 admin center  

• Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center with a Global Administrator account.  
• If you are using Simplified view, open Subscriptions. If you are using Dashboard view, go to Billing, then Your products. 
• Confirm you can see Office 365 A1 for faculty Trial and Office 365 A1 for students Trial, then check the academic verification status shown in the billing area.  
• If those trials do not appear, the tenant may not have an active Microsoft 365 Education trial associated with it, and you will need to start the Education trial again and complete the verification wizard.  
• Reference: Verify eligibility for Microsoft 365 Education subscriptions | Microsoft Learn 

2/ Make sure the academic verification wizard was fully completed and resume it if needed  

• If the verification wizard was closed before entering the school domain, resume the academic verification wizard during the trial and complete all required fields.  
• Review the information you submitted for accuracy, especially the school name, school website, and the authorized representative contact details, since these are commonly required in academic verification reviews.  
• Check the admin account email inbox and Junk folder for any questionnaire or request for additional information, since Microsoft may request more details when manual review is triggered. 

3/ Create a Microsoft support service request from the admin center and attach proof of the long pending status  

• In the Microsoft 365 admin center, select Help and support, then use the Contact Support headset option to create a new service request.  
• In the request, state clearly that academic eligibility has been pending for more than three months, and include your domain plus screenshots showing the pending verification status.
• If all subscriptions were purchased through a partner, support access is handled through the partner, so you should contact the partner for assistance with opening the request.

As community moderators, we kindly ask for your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. While we may not have visibility into performing deeper backend analysis, we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.   

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If you have any updates regarding the issue, please feel free to share them with me.          

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. 

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment”.     

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 2

The eligibility review for Microsoft 365 Education trials normally completes within 10 business days. A pending status for over three months indicates that the automated/manual review has stalled or a decision has been made but not surfaced clearly in the portal.

From the available guidance, the only supported actions in this situation are:

1. Confirm the trial and status in the admin center
   • Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
   • On the home page, locate the Billing card.
   • Check the academic verification status shown there: approved, pending, declined, or add your domain.
   • If no status appears, it means there is no active Microsoft 365 Education trial associated with the tenant; in that case, start a new trial from the Education site and complete the verification wizard again.
2. Ensure the academic verification wizard was fully completed
   • If the wizard was closed before entering the school domain, it must be resumed; otherwise, academic pricing and A1 conversion will not be enabled.
   • Use the “resume the academic verification wizard” link provided in the documentation any time during the free trial to finish the process.
3. If eligibility is ultimately declined
   • If the school is not recognized as a Microsoft Qualified Academic Institution, only commercial offers can be purchased from the admin center Marketplace page.
   • If the organization is a nonprofit, it may qualify under the nonprofit program instead; see the “Discounts and donations for nonprofits” guidance.
4. Escalate the stalled or unclear decision
   • For any questions about the academic eligibility decision or an excessively long “pending” state, the documented path is to contact support so that Microsoft can review the case and, if appropriate, complete or correct the eligibility decision.

To obtain Microsoft 365 A1 specifically, the eligibility verification must be completed and show as approved before the trial can be converted to the free A1 subscription.

---

References:

• Verify academic eligibility for Microsoft 365 Education subscriptions
• How can students get a free Microsoft 365 subscription? - Microsoft Q&A
• Microsoft 365 Education licenses - Microsoft 365 and Office 365 A1
• Microsoft 365 Education licenses
• Microsoft 365 Education licenses - Microsoft 365 and Office 365 A3