Student Developer Pack Application FAQs & Common Rejection Reasons 🎒

Introducing our brand-spanking-new FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) discussion designed specifically to help you breeze through the GitHub Education verification process with ease and confidence. We've listened to your concerns, sifted through the bucket of discussions, and compiled the most common ones into this one handy-dandy resource.

If you don’t see your question, need a little extra guidance, or want to share any feedback please feel free to post it in the community. We'll be keeping this FAQ up-to-date with the latest changes and additions to the verification process.

So, bookmark the FAQ, check back often, and rest assured knowing that you'll always be equipped with the latest information to help you sail smoothly through verification.

Who is eligible for the pack?

If you’re a student aged 13+ and enrolled in a degree or diploma-granting course of study, the GitHub Student Developer Pack is for you. 👍

When you apply, you will need to demonstrate current enrollment. The application process is individually tailored and the application interface and emails will guide you on the best next steps toward approval. For more information about the application process and what documents we accept, please read our Education documentation. You can apply by visiting GitHub Education benefits.

Why do I need to submit documentation to get the GitHub Student Developer Pack?

We want to make it as simple as possible for students anywhere to easily apply and go through the GitHub Student Developer Pack application process, while also keeping our commitment to safeguard our partners and ourselves from bad actors who make our mission difficult.

What types of evidence does the Student Developer Pack application accept?

If your school provides academic email to students, you will need to add it to your GitHub account and verify it.

In addition, we accept the following proof types, in order of preference:

1. Student ID
2. Transcript
3. Enrollment or affiliation letter
4. Class schedule

Your first and last name, complete school name, and a date demonstrating current academic affiliation must appear in your document.

Make sure the image is clear and easy to read; if it looks blurry, please take a new photo. 👈

If you don’t have an academic email and the application is requesting you to provide one associated with your selected school please see question My selected school states I must have a specific school-issued email address but it’s incorrect, what should I do? for additional information.

If you don't have a student ID, or it doesn't include a date, you can upload additional accepted proof with a date that demonstrates your current enrollment. You may capture additional and multiple academic affiliation documents in the same image in order to fulfill all requirements.

If you have been repetitively unsuccessful, please check out our common reasons that applications for GitHub Global Campus are not approved.

I am unable to submit an application, what should I do?

If your application is not proceeding to submission, please ensure that you are providing sufficient, legible proof of current academic enrollment. You may take a photo of your academic proof directly with your device camera, instead of using an upload.

Please ensure that your browser settings allow location verification. You may alternatively use your phone if your computer settings do not allow this.

To troubleshoot the location check further, you may wish to try disabling your add-ons and/or clearing your cookies and cache, or try another browser. 💡

If there is still any difficulty, raise a discussion on the GitHub Education community and provide details and a screenshot of your issue. 👍

How long after I submit my application will it be approved?

Applications are generally processed within a few days but may take longer in peak periods such as the start of a new semester.

Please note our Community and Support team is unable to expedite the review process, so opening a support ticket will not decrease the review time.

How long after I’ve been approved will I receive my academic benefits?

Congrats, your request has been approved and your benefits will be available soon!

First off, congratulations on being approved. 🎉 When you submit your application, you'll have your academic affiliation verified and gain access to Global Campus right away.

We aim to provide you with your educational benefits within 3 days of this approval status. However, during busy periods like the start of a new semester, it may take a bit longer.

If you have not received your education benefits within 5 days of your approval status please raise a discussion on the GitHub Education community and the Education community team will be able to assist in resolving this for you. 🌟

You’ll get an email notification once your academic benefits are ready, or you can check your status here . Meanwhile, as a verified GitHub Global Campus student, you can explore the platform, connect with a local Campus Expert , attend events hosted by student leaders and GitHub Education, discover and contribute to student-created repositories from GitHub Community Exchange and much more!

I don't have a school-issued email address, what other official proof of enrollment is accepted?

If your school provides academic email to students, you will need to add it to your GitHub account and verify it. ✅

If your school does not provide academic email to students, you will need to provide accepted proof of current enrollment.

For more information about the application process and what documents we accept, please read our Education documentation.

My selected school states I must have a specific school-issued email address but it’s incorrect, what should I do?

Some schools may require students to be verified by an already confirmed domain distributed by the school. If you are attending one of the schools that request specific verified academic emails and believe the school's details are incorrect please raise a ticket with Education support using the dropdown "My selected school has incorrect or incomplete information e.g. domains or campus location".

You should provide evidence to support if your school has additional academic domains, has changed its academic email issuing policy, or does not provide academic emails. Reach out to your institution's IT team for this.

Accepted types of evidence include a link to a publicly-accessible page on the school website or an affidavit from your school on school letterhead, detailing their current academic email issuing policy, or listing their academic domain(s), as it is relevant in your case. 👈

Please note that screenshots of emails purportedly sent by the school to non-academic webmail addresses are not considered to be reliable supporting documentation.

I have a double-sided Student ID with the date on the other side. How do I submit this as evidence?

We recommend that you determine the best logistics to follow next steps based on the requirements.

In order to qualify for the Github education program, we must be able to verify that you are currently and actively enrolled in your academic program. Dated documents that will help you to be most successful in getting approved are the following:

• Student ID
• Transcript
• Enrollment or affiliation letter
• Class schedule

For countries utilizing non-standard academic calendars, you may need to capture the original document beside one with a converted date. 📆

You may include multiple documents in your image, so long as they are legible. So as an example you could take a photo of your student ID card alongside a dated class schedule.

You appear to not be near any campus location for the school you have selected.

In order to qualify for the GitHub education program, we must be able to verify that you are either located close to your campus, or that you are a part of a verifiable distance learning program.

• You will have the most success applying if you are able to do so from your school’s campus.
• When asked, please enable the application to discover your location from the browser pop-up. Since settings for every browser are different, if you are having difficulty enabling us to see your location you should seek assistance from your browser's support pages. Information on browsers supported by GitHub can be found here.
• If you are still having difficulties enabling your location check out this discussion on assessing your hardware or operating system's settings.
• If you are using a VPN, please disable it when you reapply. If you are not using a VPN, try reapplying when connected to the internet from a different network.
• If you are a distance learning student, please attach official, dated proof indicating that your program is a distance learning program or you are a distance learning student when you reapply.

If you believe your applied school's details are incorrect please raise a ticket with Education support using the dropdown "My selected school has incorrect or incomplete information e.g. domains or campus location". 👍

You should provide evidence to support if your school campus’s location has changed, or an additional campus needs to be associated with it. 🏫

The school you selected does not appear to have a campus location in your country.

Please visit the "You appear to not be near any campus location for the school you have selected" section for guidance.

Your document does not appear to include a date demonstrating current academic affiliation.

In order to qualify for the Github education program, we must be able to verify that you are currently and actively enrolled in your academic program. Legible, currently dated documents that will most help you to be successful in getting approved are the following:

• School ID
• Transcript
• Enrollment / affiliation verification letter
• Class schedule

For countries utilizing non-standard academic calendars, you may need to capture the original document beside one with a converted date. You may include multiple documents in your image, so long as they are legible.

The image you selected does not appear to contain your school name.

In order to qualify for the GitHub education program, we must be able to verify that you are enrolled in your school. That means, we need to clearly see your school name on your documentation. Here are a few tips we suggest:

• You may include multiple documents in your image. We look at all of the documents you submit collectively.
• Make certain that your documents are clear in your image, this may mean that you may need to print the document out and take a picture of it.
• Ensure that the school’s name you selected matches exactly on your submitted evidence. Text that is non-English should be translated.
• Logos are not sufficient.

My institution doesn’t qualify, but I want the Pack. What should I do?

We would love to provide all learners access to the real-world development tools provided by GitHub Education's partners in the future, but right now to become a member of the Pack you must be 13+ years of age and currently enrolled in an accredited degree or diploma granting course of study.

You are welcome to ask your instructor at your code school or boot camp to apply to become a GitHub Education partner.

If approved, program participants will become eligible to receive all of the benefits of GitHub Education.

There are outstanding issues with your GitHub account

If you are seeing this message when applying for the Student Developer Pack and can not proceed please contact Account or billing issues and they will explain the details of this message.

This message can be an indication of many things that only the Support team can answer and resolve. We thank you for your patience and understanding whilst we are ensuring that bad actors impersonating students don't jeopardize our ability to provide academic benefits of value.

You were last verified as a student on "blank"

If you are seeing this message when you are trying to reverify we would request that you raise a discussion on the GitHub Education community, provide details and a screenshot of your issue and the Education community team will be able to assist in resolving this for you. 🌟

You were last verified as a "null" on...

If you are seeing this message this usually indicates that your application has been Approved and is still within its 72 hours wait period before receiving your academic benefits. The "null" will be updated when you receive your academic benefits to reflect the type of application you had submitted. You do not need to do anything else at this time.

You’ll get an email notification once your academic benefits are ready, or you can check your status here . Meanwhile, as a verified GitHub Global Campus student, you can explore the platform, connect with a local Campus Expert , attend events hosted by student leaders and GitHub Education, discover and contribute to student-created repositories from GitHub Community Exchange and much more!

I can only use my Front Camera to take a photo

We understand that students may not have access to high-quality cameras (laptop or phones) but as long as the text is legible the system should be able to process it. Here are a few tips on using a phone to capture.

1. Please ensure that you have allowed camera access on the browser you're using to apply. The steps for this will vary depending on which browser you are using. Information on browsers supported by GitHub can be found here.
2. If you can, print off your evidence and take a photo of this copy.
3. Ensure your image is legible. If you are unable to read the text on the image itself then the verification process may not be able to either. If you are taking a photo of a screen try to have it as large a resolution as possible - take a photo of the evidence on a monitor rather than a phone.
4. Keep the text legible. It's preferred to have the full shot of the evidence but try and capture the important sections of it to confirm your student status. If the photo is too large and makes the text tiny then zoom in appropriately.
5. Alternatively you may use another mobile device or computer.

Your uploaded proof has already been used previously

It would be preferable that a student is on campus when applying and thus able to upload a document but with remote learning that isn't always possible, so we request students to submit a live photo of their evidence rather than an upload.

This rejection reason usually indicates that an image has been previously used. We recommend that you supply a new live capture of your evidence upon re-applying to avoid this.

I need to translate my evidence. What can I do?

Ensure your billing information and identification on your academic evidence are accurate. Do you use a variation of your name or a nickname? It’s these small but important points to consider when applying that can make a much smoother process.

We are able to translate a number of languages but if you feel that the system is unable to process your particular language then we would advise you to take a photo of the original piece of evidence next to a typed English translation, without using special characters / accent marks. Your name on the account may need to match the translated proof as well.

Ensure your image is legible. If you are unable to read the text on the image itself then the verification process may not be able to either.

My application was rejected. What should I do?

Please double check that you have updated your billing information and two-factor authentication, and addressed any other rejection reasons.

Also check out the education documentation on the common reasons an application is rejected and how to correct it.

My application keeps getting rejected. What should I do?

Only re-apply if you have made any updates to your profile, evidence or application after a failed submission. Please double check that you have updated your billing information and two-factor authentication, and addressed any other rejection reasons.

I couldn’t find the answer I was looking for

We continuously update these FAQs but if you are unable to find the answer to your question please raise a discussion on the GitHub Education community and the Community team will be happy to assist 🌟