Microsoft Academic Licenses

Are you eligible to purchase Microsoft Academic Licenses?

Customers meeting the criteria below are eligible to acquire Microsoft Academic Edition (AE) products in the programs indicated and are defined as Qualified Educational Users:

• Educational Institutions

• Administrative Offices & Boards of Education

• Teachers, Faculty and Staff

• Students

• Public Libraries

• Public Museums

• Home-School Programs

Note
The following qualification requirements apply to customers that are located or reside in the United States only (not including U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands). Customers located in Canada, please visit the Microsoft Canada Education Web site. Customers located in other countries, please check with your local Microsoft subsidiary for academic pricing and qualification information.

Microsoft Qualified Educational User definition (United States only)
All Microsoft eligible education customers must be located or reside in the United States. Qualified Educational Users are a those entities that both have an educational purpose or mission and meet the criteria specified below. If a controversy exists as to an organization's eligibility, Microsoft retains the right to determine in its sole discretion the eligibility of the organization for the specific transaction in question. The following are eligible to acquire Microsoft Academic Edition (AE) products in the programs indicated and are defined as Qualified Educational Users:

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Qualified Educational Users:
A) Educational Institutions
Defined as an accredited institution organized and operated exclusively for the purpose of teaching its enrolled students (“Educational Institutions”). An accredited institution must be:

1.
A public or private K-12, vocational school, correspondence school, junior college, college, university, or scientific or technical school that is either institutionally accredited by an accrediting agency nationally recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education or, in the case of public K-12 institutions only, recognized or approved by the Department of Education of the State in which it is located.

OR

2.
A preschool meeting all of the following criteria: (i) is an early childhood program incorporated for the purpose of providing educational services to children between two and five years of age, and which serves minimum of ten such children; and (ii) has been in operation for at least one year.

Eligible programs:

• Academic Edition full packaged products

• Academic Open

• Academic Select

• Campus Agreement (Higher Ed only)

• School Agreement (K-12 Ed or Preschool only)

B) Administrative Offices or Boards of Education
Defined as (a) district, regional and state administrative offices of public Educational Institutions (b) administrative entities organized and operated exclusively for the administration of private Educational Institutions, or (c) other state or local government entities nearly all of whose activities consist of administrative support, of a nature that advances academic learning, for public Educational Institutions.

Eligible Programs:

• Academic Edition full packaged products

• Academic Open

• Academic Select

• Campus Agreement (Higher Ed only)

• School Agreement (K-12 Ed or Preschool only)

C) Full and Part Time Faculty and Staff
Defined as all full and part time faculty and staff of Educational Institutions.

Eligible Programs:

• Academic Edition full packaged products

D) Full and Part Time Enrolled Students
Defined as full and part time enrolled students of Educational Institutions.

Eligible Programs:

• Academic Edition full packaged products

• Academic Student Select

E) Public Libraries
Must meet all of the following criteria: (i) primarily provide general library services without charge to all residents of a given community, district or region; (ii) supported by public or private funds; (iii) make its basic collections and basic services available to the population of its legal service area without charges to individual users, but may impose charges on users outside its legal service area; and (iv) may or may not provide products and services, beyond its basic services, to the public at large with or without individual charges.

Eligible Programs:

• Academic Edition full packaged product

• Academic Open

• Academic Select

• School Agreement

F) Public Museums
Must meet all the following criteria: (i) are a public or private agency or institution organized on a permanent basis for essentially education or aesthetic purposes; (ii) utilize a professional staff; and (iii) own or utilize tangible objects, care for them and exhibit them to the public on a regular basis.

• Academic Edition full packaged product

• Academic Open

• Academic Select

• School Agreement

G) Home-School Program
Defined as a home-schooling program which provides K-12 education to a student or students and which is able to provide written proof that it either (i) belongs to a nationally-recognized home-schooling organization, or (ii) is expressly recognized by a local school district as an acceptable alternative to an accredited or state-recognized/approved educational institution.

Eligible Programs:

• Academic Edition full packaged products

Special note regarding Hospitals, Healthcare Systems and Research Laboratories:

Hospitals, Healthcare Systems and Research Laboratories (including independent Research Laboratories or Research Laboratories affiliated with the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy) are NOT eligible to acquire Academic Edition (AE) products unless they are wholly owned and operated by a qualified Educational Institution as defined above in Section A. "Wholly owned and operated" means that the Educational Institution is the sole owner of said hospital, healthcare system or research laboratory and the only entity exercising control over said institution’s day-to-day operations. Additional information on determining if an entity is wholly owned and operated by an Educational Institution can be found by referring to the: Hospital definition (28 KB Microsoft Word document).

Examples of entities not eligible for academic pricing:

• Non-accredited schools

• Training centers

• Non-United States residents or educational facilities

• Churches

• Hospitals, Healthcare Systems, and Research Laboratories that do not meet the qualifications above

• Non-profit/charitable organizations that do not meet the qualifications above