Microsoft Office 365 Now Available Free of Charge to Eligible Students and Teachers Worldwide

Microsoft on Monday announced that its new Office 365 productivity suite is now available free of charge to eligible students and eligible teachers. It said: "Millions of students around the world are eligible for free Office from their school and today we are announcing that we've made it easy for all eligible students globally to sign up themselves to get Office 365 and install free Office. That includes the 5.5 million eligible students in Australia, the nearly 5 million eligible students in Germany, 7 million more in Brazil, 1.3 million at Anadolu University in Turkey, every student in Hong Kong and millions more."

Previously available only in the US, the offer beginning Monday can now be accessed by any eligible student or teacher where Office 365 is available. However, a valid school email address is needed to complete the sign up process. To see if you're eligible for free Office from your school, check with office.com/getoffice365 if you're a student or office.com/teachers if you're a teacher.

Once signed up, the students and/or teachers will get access to the newest Office, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access and Publisher, and be able to install them on up to five computers and five phones or tablets. An account also comes with Office Online for in-browser editing, collaboration and co-authoring, and, even better, a 1TB of OneDrive storage, so users can upload, store and share anything without quickly running out of space. "Students getting Office at no additional cost to schools is a benefit Microsoft provides to education institutions that buy Office for faculty and staff," the company said in its announcement.

Last week, before making the offer available worldwide, Microsoft introduced the service first to the New York City public schools. At a forum with the city officials, Microsoft's Anthony Salcito put in perspective the value of the new service. He said: "What's the impact of this bold move? In the city that is a world leader in so many areas, every student will gain proficiency in what IDC called the number-three most in-demand skills valued for employers. Quite simply, the integration of Office 365 into every student's daily schoolwork prepares them for future success by developing both the hard and soft skills they'll need as they enter college and the workplace."