Having trouble accessing the college student discount for Microsoft 365 Personal plan?

Dear @NiaPinkney-7326,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum! 

Thank you for reaching out regarding the Microsoft 365 Personal student offer. I understand you encountered an issue when trying to sign up using your college email. So, I would like to clarify for you some information about it: 

The Microsoft 365 Personal plan is designed for individual use and must be linked to a personal Microsoft account (e.g., one ending in @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, etc.). School or business accounts, like the one used for your Office 365 A1 for Education, cannot be used to purchase personal subscriptions directly.  

Please note: 

• You must sign up for the offer using a personal Microsoft account that has been verified using your college email. 
• You cannot sign up for the offer directly using your college account, this is a common point of confusion. 

Therefore, here are recommended steps for you to try to see if it can help you: 

 Step 1: You need to create a personal Microsoft account: 

• Go to https://account.microsoft.com 
• Sign up using a personal email address (or create a new Outlook.com email) 

Step 2: You need to verify your student status: 

• Visit the student offer page: Microsoft 365 Student Discount 
• Enter your college email address to verify your eligibility 
• Once verified, you’ll be able to apply the student discount to your personal Microsoft account 

You can consult more details about the offer in this link: Microsoft Student Discount on Office, Word | Microsoft 365 

Additional notes for you: 

• The offer gives you 12 months free, then $4.99/month after that. 
• You’ll need to provide a valid payment method to activate the offer. 
• This process does not affect your school account because you sign up by new personal account, you can continue using Office 365 A1 for schoolwork 

I hope this information can help you in this case. Wish you a pleasant day! 

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