How can a GitHub Student Benefit account upgrade to Copilot Pro+?

[ZepengW]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Billing & Payment Issues

Hi everyone,

I’m currently using GitHub Copilot through my GitHub Student benefits.

My account shows Copilot Pro-level access with 1,500 monthly AI credits. Previously, I subscribed to Copilot Pro as a paid plan, but after GitHub detected my student eligibility, I received an email saying that Copilot was free for me and my previous Copilot Pro payment was refunded.

Now I would like to upgrade to Copilot Pro+ as a paid subscription, but I cannot find any “Upgrade to Pro+” option in Billing & licensing or the Copilot plan management page.

From GitHub’s AI support response, it seems that my account is covered by a free Copilot entitlement through GitHub Education. While this free entitlement is active, paid upgrade options such as Copilot Pro+ are hidden.

My questions are:

1. Is there any way for a GitHub Student Benefit account to upgrade to Copilot Pro+?
2. Can I voluntarily opt out of the free Copilot student entitlement while keeping my other GitHub Student Developer Pack benefits?
3. If this is not supported, is the only option to wait until the student Copilot entitlement expires?

I understand that the current student entitlement provides free Pro-level access, but I would like to pay for Copilot Pro+ because I need the higher AI credit limit and Pro+ features.

Has anyone else encountered this situation or found a workaround?

[Aarav01go]

This is a very common point of confusion right now. When GitHub restructured the Copilot plans and introduced the Pro+ and Max tiers earlier this year (removing premium models like Opus and GPT-5.4 from the student tier), they initially didn't build a smooth upgrade path.To answer your questions directly: Yes, you can upgrade to Pro+, and yes, you can voluntarily opt out of the free Copilot entitlement without losing the rest of your Student Developer Pack. You absolutely do not have to wait for your student status to expire. On March 13, 2026, GitHub officially announced that students could upgrade to paid plans while keeping their other benefits. However, as you've discovered, the billing UI is still buggy. The system sees you already have an active Copilot license (the student one) and hides the "Upgrade" button to prevent duplicate billing. Since the automated system is blocking you, here are the two ways developers are currently getting around this:Option 1: The Support Route (Keep everything on one account)If you want to keep all your subscriptions and repositories under your main username, you must have the free Copilot entitlement manually revoked by a human.Go to the GitHub Education Support portal and open a ticket.Explicitly state that your active Copilot Student entitlement is hiding the upgrade UI, and you want to purchase a Copilot Pro+ subscription.Crucial detail: Ask them to manually remove only your GitHub Copilot student license, and explicitly state that you want to retain the rest of your Student Developer Pack.Once Support confirms the removal, log out completely, clear your browser cache, and log back in. The standard "$39/month Upgrade to Pro+" option will reappear in your billing settings.Option 2: The Two-Account Workaround (Immediate access)If you need the higher AI credit limits and Pro+ features today and don't want to wait on a support ticket (or risk a support rep accidentally wiping your whole student pack), you can split your workflow.Create a second, completely separate GitHub account.Purchase the paid Copilot Pro+ subscription on this new account.In your IDE (like VS Code or JetBrains), sign out of the Copilot extension and sign back in using this new paid account.You can still use your original student account for your Git credentials. The authentication for the Copilot extension is completely independent of the authentication you use to push, pull, and commit code. This gives you access to the Pro+ models immediately while keeping your main account's student status completely untouched.

[Doki-png]

Yes, there is a way to upgrade to Copilot Pro+, and yes, you can voluntarily opt out of the free Copilot student entitlement while keeping your other GitHub Student Developer Pack benefits. Here is exactly what is happening and how to fix it.GitHub’s billing system recognizes your account as already having an active Copilot license via the Student Developer Pack. Because of this overlap, the system intentionally hides the standard upgrade buttons to prevent duplicate billing. As shown in the image, your account is correctly provisioned for the free student Copilot Pro tier (with the standard 1,500 AI credits), but the automated UI effectively locks you out of the paid upgrade paths.Additionally, while GitHub recently paused new sign-ups for Copilot plans, existing verified students with an active Copilot Student entitlement are explicitly allowed to upgrade to Pro+. The only barrier is the billing interface.
If you want to keep all your subscriptions, activity, and repositories under your current GitHub username, you must have the free Copilot entitlement manually revoked.
Go to the GitHub Education Support portal and submit a ticket. Specify the Issue: Explicitly state that your Student Developer Pack's Copilot entitlement is blocking you from purchasing a paid Copilot Pro+ subscription. Request Partial Removal , ask them to manually remove only the Copilot benefit. Be clear that you want to retain the rest of your Student Developer Pack access. Once Support confirms the removal, clear your browser cache and navigate back to your billing settings. The standard purchase options for Copilot Pro+ will now appear.