When I first started my master studies two years ago, I got a student email address from my university, and while this might seem pretty standard and somewhat useless to some people, it was a milestone for me. Since the day I started my bachelor degree, I was cursing the nasty politics that resulted in my country being subjected to heavy sanctions from the US, which practically prevented IT people from doing anything productive without using a VPN, and also made the utilization of offers like the one I am writing about today a distant dream. But not to worry, I finally have a student email address, and some of my dreams are about to come true.
As a computer science student, I always wanted to get my hands on some of the free offers for tools and learning materials but for a long time, I couldn’t due to the fact our college back home didn’t think we were worth the few dollars they would have paid to operate a mail server for their students. I went through my college days extremely angry about this topic and voiced my disappointment to my brother (he worked at the university network administration unit) multiple times over the four years I spent at college.
So about the pack, yes. GitHub started the Student Developer Pack back in 2014, and it’s been a great success since then. The requirements are pretty simple:
- You must be currently enrolled in a degree or diploma granting course of study
- You must have a verifiable school-issued email address or share documents that prove your current student status
- You must have a GitHub user account
- You must be at least 13 years old
In return, you get the following benefits for free:
- AWS Credits: ~$110
- Bitnami Business 3 plan (normally $49/month) free for one year
- Datadog Pro account for 2 years
- Digital Ocean Credit: $50
- Azure Credit: $100
- Free .me domain name and SSL certificate for one year from Namecheap
- Unreal Engine while you’re a student
- And much more (Full list here)
If you are a computer science student, this is an excellent resource for you. It will give you a fantastic set of tools and resources that will make your life easier, and you don’t have to pay anything to take advantage of those benefits, so what are you waiting for?
If you are a Sudanese student, I understand you can’t use an email address from your university, so just fill the application here, and attach a copy of your student ID and maybe a registration certificate in English. Don’t waste this opportunity.
GitHub Student Developer Pack Page