what am i paying for

Question

Dear Microsoft

I use email at work (Goldsmiths University) and this is all I appear to use Microsoft for

I dod not create the account - it was created by the IT department at my University

Can you explain to me what I am paying Microsoft for at all?

Thank you

Please use this email to respond: ******@raiemusic.com

Answer 1

Is there anyone at Goldsmiths to ask? Perhaps someone at IT and Digital Services Support? Someone at The Student Hub?

Answer 2

Note that forum contributors do not have access to user accounts. We are your fellow users of Microsoft products and services.

If you are getting a bill for a personal subscription, you should see it in your Microsoft account at https://account.microsoft.com/services.

You may have to contact Microsoft billing support. For more, have a look at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/how-to-investigate-a-billing-charge-from-microsoft-398c5328-364c-d5e4-ea8f-f5ad60562a93 .

Answer 3

Charges to Microsoft can be for different types of accounts and services, and the work email account created by the university IT department is only one of them.

Key points from the provided information:

1. Work or school account vs personal Microsoft account
   • The email account created by Goldsmiths University is a work or school account used to sign in to Microsoft 365 for business/education (for example, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive for work or school).
   • A work or school account is assigned and managed by the organization’s administrator and is different from a personal Microsoft account used for services like Xbox Live, Outlook.com, personal OneDrive, etc.
   • A work or school account typically looks like ******@university.ac.uk or similar and is used to access Microsoft 365 for business or education services provided by the institution.
   See: work/school account description in What is my user ID and why do I need it for Office 365 for business? and What's the difference between a Microsoft account and a work or school account?.
2. What the university account is paying for
   • The university (not the individual user) normally pays Microsoft for Microsoft 365 for business or Microsoft 365 Education licenses that cover email, Office apps, OneDrive for work or school, etc.
   • The user of that account usually does not get billed personally by Microsoft for that work/school account; billing is handled by the institution’s admin.
3. Why personal charges might still appear
   • Any personal Microsoft subscriptions (for example, Microsoft 365 Personal/Family, Xbox, or other consumer services) are billed to the personal Microsoft account, which is separate from the university work/school account.
   • It is possible to:
     • Have a personal Microsoft account using a different email (for example, a private address such as ******@raiemusic.com), and
     • Also have a university work/school account created by Goldsmiths.
   • Personal Microsoft accounts and Microsoft 365 work or school accounts cannot be merged, but they can exist side by side.
   See: What's the difference between a Microsoft account and a work or school account? and the note on non‑merging in Why did I get a message saying my files will be erased?.
4. How to investigate what charges are for
   • To understand what is being paid for, it is necessary to:
     • Check which Microsoft account (personal vs work/school) is associated with the charges.
     • Use Microsoft’s “investigate a billing charge” guidance to see what each charge corresponds to (subscription, app, or service).
   • The context provides a link specifically for investigating billing charges: How to investigate a billing charge from Microsoft.

If charges are appearing but only the university email is actively used, those charges are most likely tied to a separate personal Microsoft account or subscription, not to the university-provided work/school account. The correct next step is to follow the “investigate a billing charge” process to see exactly which subscription or product each charge belongs to.

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References:

• Why did I get a message saying my files will be erased?
• What is my user ID and why do I need it for Office 365 for business?
• What's the difference between a Microsoft account and a work or school account?
• What is a Microsoft account?
• investigate a billing charge