- Free Microsoft Exchange email provision is being pulled from Microsoft 365 Education
- Microsoft has refreshed its 365 Education portfolio, swapping its feature-packed free tier with a stripped back option without email
- The Office 365 A1 plan will be retired on January 1, 2028, with an extension for any customers already enrolled to the end of the period
Microsoft has announced an "evolution" to its Microsoft 365 Education portfolio that will see the removal of free email for students as the popular free tier A1 (also known as MA1) is being retired on January 1, 2028.
The A1 tier offered free Microsoft Exchange access for students (the Student Use Benefit program) requiring emails with from their school, college, or university. Many institutions rely on the roll-call of email addresses to distribute work and integrate student accounts with other services.
While any customers with existing enrollments prior to January 1, 2028 will get a term-long extension, Microsoft’s announcement presents a big headache for administrators at educational facilities around the world. The decision also affects the free Exchange Online for Alumni provision, which is also set to be cancelled.
Squeezed education
The announcement, made on the Microsoft website, adds a new tier, Microsoft 365 Education A7, which includes Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Agent 365 among other additional features. But it is the removal of the A1 plan and loss of free email for students which will have the biggest impact.
The education sector is experiencing numerous funding issues at the moment, challenges that don’t only exist in the UK. But certainly for educators across British universities and colleges, where Microsoft 365 is preferred over Google Docs (more commonly found in schools), this news represents a huge budgetary challenge.
License flexibility and transition planning have been explained within the announcement, but the pricing structure is also changing for Microsoft 365 Education plans, effective from the same January 1, 2028 date.
The company states: “Office 365 A1 users and Student Use Benefit users who need continued service must move to an eligible Microsoft 365 Education student or faculty edition at renewal. Exchange Online for Alumni users who need continued email service can move to the new paid Exchange Online for Alumni offer.”
Existing pricing will be honoured until the end of the agreement.
It's all about AI
Perhaps inevitably, Microsoft’s decision to pull free email is cloaked in references to AI services and experiences. The surviving plans all feature enhanced AI provision, and the announcement states that institutions should base their upgrade on their “productivity, management, security, analytics, and AI needs.”
Additionally, a Microsoft representative told The Register that "Microsoft's broader goal is not technology adoption for its own sake. It is to support AI and digital experiences that strengthen learning, preserve educator judgment and give institutions the controls they need to manage data, privacy, and responsible use."
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