Academic Verification Issue

Question

I am trying to verify my academic status for this upcoming school year but I am unable to. I received an offer in my email from Microsoft after the purchase of my new qualified laptop and I would like to make use of the Microsoft 365 free one year account and the gaming controller if possible. I am unsure what my next step should be.

Answer 1

For Microsoft 365 Education academic verification, the next steps are:

1. Confirm that a Microsoft 365 Education trial exists.
   • In the Microsoft 365 admin center:
     • If using Simplified view, select Subscriptions.
     • If using Dashboard view, go to Billing > Your products.
   • Look for Office 365 A1 for faculty Trial and Office 365 A1 for students Trial.
   • If those trial subscriptions are not present, start the trial by visiting https://www.microsoft.com/education/products/office, entering the school email address, and selecting Get started.
2. Check the academic verification status.
   • In the Microsoft 365 admin center home page, find the Billing card.
   • The status will show approved, pending, declined, or add your domain.
3. If verification was started but not completed, resume the wizard.
   • If the verification wizard was closed before entering a domain, it can be resumed during the free trial.
4. If the review is pending, wait for the manual review to finish.
   • Some schools require a manual eligibility review.
   • That review can take up to 10 business days.
   • A status email is sent after the review is completed.
5. If the school is declined as academically ineligible:
   • Commercial offers can still be purchased in the admin center on the Marketplace page.
   • If the organization is a nonprofit, nonprofit subscriptions may be available.
   • Questions about the school’s academic eligibility decision should be directed to Microsoft support.
6. If the issue is specifically that a verification code is not arriving:
   • Check the junk email folder for a message from @accountprotection.microsoft.com.
   • Avoid excessive or repeated code requests, because that can temporarily block code delivery.
   • If the alternate email is another Microsoft account, use two privacy-mode browser windows so both accounts stay signed in.
   • On the Security info page, select Update info to confirm the phone number or email is correct, or choose I don't have any of these if the current methods no longer work.

For the Microsoft 365 free one-year account, the supported path in the documentation is the Microsoft 365 Education trial and academic verification flow above. The gaming controller offer is not covered in the available documentation.

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• Verify academic eligibility for Microsoft 365 Education subscriptions
• Common problems with two-step verification for a work or school account