# Cursor Education: How Students and Educators Get Access Now

> Cursor ended new student discount sign-ups on June 25, 2026. Undergrads get credits at campus events; grad students, researchers and educators apply by form.

- Source: https://www.aifreeapi.com/en/posts/cursor-education-complete-guide
- Language: en
- Published: 2025-01-28
- Updated: 2026-09-30
- Publisher: AI Free API (https://www.aifreeapi.com)

Cursor no longer gives new sign-ups a free or discounted year of Pro for being a student. It [closed the legacy student discount on June 25, 2026](https://cursor.com/help/account-and-billing/student-discount), and what replaced it depends on who you are:

- **Undergraduates** can claim credits and discounts at Cursor's on-campus and online events, which start in fall 2026.
- **Master's students, PhD candidates, academic researchers and educators** can request credits through a form linked from that same help article.
- **Anyone** can use Cursor for free on the Hobby plan, no credit card required.
- **If you already redeemed the student discount**, you keep your rate until the plan expires. After that, Pro renews at $20 a month unless you cancel.

For learning the tool itself, [Cursor Learn](https://cursor.com/learn) is a free official course with no plan requirement.

## Which Cursor route fits you as a student, researcher or educator

Cursor's [students page](https://cursor.com/students) and help article describe the options in a few lines each. Sorted by who you are, as of September 30, 2026:

| You are | What Cursor offers | How to get it | Not published |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Undergraduate | Credits and discounts | Attend an on-campus or online Cursor event (from fall 2026); join the campus newsletter for early notice | Credit amounts, event dates, which schools |
| Master's or PhD student | Credits "to support their work" | Request form in the [student discount help article](https://cursor.com/help/account-and-billing/student-discount) | Amounts, approval criteria, response time |
| Academic researcher | Credits | Same request form | Same as above |
| Educator | Credits | Same request form | Whether "educator" includes K–12 teachers |
| Student who wants to run events | Campus Lead role | [Bring Cursor to your campus](https://cursor.com/campus-leads) interest list | Selection criteria |
| Anyone | Hobby plan | Download Cursor and sign up | — |

![Chart matching four groups to Cursor access routes: undergraduates to event credits from fall 2026, master's, PhD, researchers and educators to the credits form, student organizers to Campus Leads, and anyone to the free Hobby plan](https://www.aifreeapi.com/posts/en/cursor-education-complete-guide/img/routes-by-role.webp)

### Undergraduates: events and the campus newsletter

The undergraduate route runs through events. Cursor says students can claim "credits and discounts at on-campus and online events starting this fall," and the students page tells anyone who wants more than the free plan to "look out for promotions" at those events.

The practical step is to sign up for the campus newsletter, linked from both the students page and the help article. Cursor describes it as early access to upcoming events, exclusive discounts and beginner guides. Neither page lists an event calendar, how much credit an event gives or how long it lasts, so treat any specific number you see elsewhere as unconfirmed.

### Graduate students, researchers and educators: the credits form

If you're a master's student, a PhD candidate, an academic researcher or an educator, the help article links a form to "request credits to support their work." This is the closest thing to the old student discount for anyone past undergrad, but it works differently. You ask for credits for specific work instead of verifying a student email and getting a year of Pro automatically.

Cursor doesn't publish how much it grants, what it checks or how long a reply takes. A request that says what you're building, for which course or research project, and roughly how you'll use Cursor gives the reviewer something concrete to act on. Teachers planning a course around Cursor should also have a fallback: the Hobby plan works for students who don't get credits.

### Students who want to organize: Campus Leads

"Bring Cursor to your campus" on the students page leads to the [Campus Leads program](https://cursor.com/campus-leads). It's for current university students who run workshops, organize events and hackathons, and send product feedback. Cursor expects a commitment of 5 hours a week.

In return, the program page lists 6 months of Cursor Ultra, funding to host campus events, a trip to Cursor's San Francisco office and early feature access. As of September 30, 2026, the program runs in the fall and spring terms, and the page says applications open again in January through an interest list.

## What happened to the student discount and the free student year

Until June 25, 2026, students could redeem a student discount on Cursor Pro that ran for a year. Cursor stopped new sign-ups on that date. Its help article gives the reason plainly: the program "had become a target for fraud and held Cursor back from reaching students globally."

Two things follow for anyone reading an older guide:

- The verification-based student year isn't available to new sign-ups anymore. A page that still promises "12 months of Pro free" after verifying a school email is describing the closed program.
- Cursor sells subscriptions only through [cursor.com](https://cursor.com/pricing) and has no authorized resellers. A cheap "student account" offered by a third party isn't a Cursor program.

## If you already have the student plan

Your discount stays in place until the plan expires. Cursor's help article is direct about what comes next: "Your Pro subscription continues at the regular $20/month rate unless you cancel."

![Three-step timeline of a redeemed Cursor student plan, from redemption before June 25, 2026 to the renewal date, ending in either Pro at $20 a month or the free Hobby plan after canceling](https://www.aifreeapi.com/posts/en/cursor-education-complete-guide/img/student-plan-timeline.webp)

Before the renewal date, decide which of these fits:

| If you | Then |
| --- | --- |
| Use Agent heavily for coursework or projects | Let it renew at $20 a month, or compare Pro Plus ($60) and Ultra ($200) on the [pricing page](https://cursor.com/pricing) |
| Mostly use Cursor now and then | [Cancel the subscription](https://cursor.com/help/account-and-billing/cancel) before it renews and use the free Hobby plan |
| Are a grad student, researcher or educator | Send the credits request before the student year ends so you aren't paying in the gap |

One more date matters if you depend on GPT models inside Cursor. Cursor was acquired by SpaceX in August 2026, and OpenAI has said it will stop providing its models to Cursor, with a proposed end date of November 12, 2026. OpenAI's announcement covers only its own models. The details are in [Kiro vs Cursor: Workflow, Pricing, and Which One to Choose](/en/posts/kiro-vs-cursor).

## Starting for free on the Hobby plan

The students page puts it in one line: "Anyone can get started with Cursor for free." That free option is the Hobby plan, the same one everyone else gets. It needs no credit card, includes limited Agent requests, and gives access to Composer, Cursor's own model.

For a first semester with Cursor, Hobby is enough to learn the editor, try Agent on a class project and decide whether you'd pay. When the limits start to get in the way, the paid plans as of September 30, 2026 are:

| Plan | Price | Who it suits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hobby | Free | Trying Cursor, light use |
| Pro | $20/month | Regular individual use |
| Pro Plus | $60/month | Daily Agent use |
| Ultra | $200/month | Heavy Agent use |
| Teams | $40/user/month | Groups that need shared billing and admin |

None of these has an education price. For students and academics, the ways to pay less are event credits, form credits and the Campus Leads program.

## Learning Cursor for free with Cursor Learn, the official course

Cursor Learn at [cursor.com/learn](https://cursor.com/learn) is Cursor's own free course. It teaches how to write software with AI models and tools. It isn't a machine learning course and doesn't cover training your own models. The examples use Cursor, but the course says the patterns apply to any AI coding tool.

It has two modules:

| Module | Chapters |
| --- | --- |
| AI Foundations | How AI models work · Hallucination and limitations · Tokens and pricing · Context · Tool calling · Agents |
| Coding Agents | Working with agents · Understanding your codebase · Developing features · Finding and fixing bugs · Reviewing and testing code · Customizing agents · Putting it all together |

A workable order for a student:

1. **Read AI Foundations first** if you're new to AI tools. The tokens and pricing chapter is useful background for making sense of plan usage limits.
2. **Work through Coding Agents on a real project**, such as a class assignment or a repo you already know, using the Hobby plan. The chapters move from understanding the code to adding features, fixing bugs, and reviewing and testing.
3. **Join the campus newsletter** while you learn. Cursor says it sends beginner guides along with event notices, so you'll also hear about credits if an event reaches your school.

## CURSOR.EDUCATION is a different organization

"CURSOR.EDUCATION" is also the name of an IT school in Ukraine, founded in 2013, with its own YouTube channel and LinkedIn page. It isn't related to Cursor the code editor, which is made by Anysphere. If you're looking for that school's courses, its own channels are the place to go.

## Common questions

### Is Cursor free for education?

Cursor is free for everyone on the Hobby plan, students included. There's no longer a free Pro year for new student sign-ups; that ended on June 25, 2026. Undergraduates can get credits at Cursor events, and grad students, researchers and educators can request credits through Cursor's form.

### How can I get Cursor Pro for free as a student?

Not through verification anymore. The current routes are event credits for undergraduates, the credits request form for master's, PhD, research and teaching work, and 6 months of Ultra for students accepted as Campus Leads. Cursor doesn't publish how much credit the events or the form provide.

### How much is Cursor Pro for students?

New subscribers pay the regular $20 a month. Students who redeemed the discount before June 25, 2026 keep their rate until the plan expires, then renew at $20 a month unless they cancel.

### Does Cursor still verify student emails?

Not for a discount. The verification-based student discount closed to new sign-ups on June 25, 2026, and access now comes from events, the credits form or the Campus Leads program.

### Is there a free alternative if I don't get Cursor credits?

Cursor's Hobby plan is the free baseline. For other tools, [Kiro vs Cursor](/en/posts/kiro-vs-cursor) covers AWS's Kiro, which has its own free tier. [Is There a Claude Student Discount in 2026?](/en/posts/claude-for-students) covers what Anthropic offers students, and [Claude Code Free Trial in 2026: Does It Exist, Who Qualifies, and What to Do Next](/en/posts/claude-code-free-trial) covers whether Claude Code has a free route and what to use instead. For Google's offer, see the [Gemini student plan guide](/en/posts/gemini-student-plan).