Education Plan rejected

[Zeclix1013]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Verification Help & Guidance

Hi everyone,

I am currently working as a university lecturer, but my application for the GitHub Teacher Plan keeps being rejected.

In particular, I repeatedly receive a message stating that my faculty status could not be verified. However, I have already submitted official documents provided by my university, yet it appears that they were not properly reviewed before my application was rejected multiple times.

Furthermore, as mentioned in the attached materials, I was instructed to ensure that my name matched my official records. I updated my account with my full legal name and even added a valid payment method, but my application continues to be rejected without any meaningful explanation.

Could you please explain the actual reason for these repeated rejections?

At this point, it is difficult to understand the verification process. I have complied with every instruction provided, submitted official documentation, updated my account information as requested, and added a payment method, yet my application is still being denied. This raises the question of whether the review process is being conducted properly, or whether the requirement to add a payment method serves some purpose other than identity verification.

I would appreciate a clear explanation of the specific issue preventing my application from being approved.

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[maheerCodes]

hey @Zeclix1013 👋.

out of the 4 issues listed, the first one is actually the key ,,, the other 3 are the standard boilerplate name-matching text that gets attached to basically every rejection regardless of whether names are an issue(you've already fixed those, so dont worry about them).

"your document does not appear to indicate you as a faculty member."

this is the real reason,,,, the system isnt rejecting based on your name or payment method,its specificallly saying the document content itself doesnt contain enough signal that you're teaching staff as opposed to a student. for the Teacher plan specifically, the doc needs to explicitly show :

• a clear job title/role like "lecturer", "professor", "faculty", "docente", "instructor" etc,,somewhere in the text, not implied.
• the university's official name.
• your full name matching your account.
• ideally an official letterhead/signature/stamp from HR or academic affairs.

if what you submitted is a staff ID card, those often dont explicitly say "lecturer" on them,,,theyre identity documents, not employment verification, so the OCR has nothing role-related to latch onto even if the photo is perfect.

best document to try.
request an official employment/affiliation letter from your university's HR or academic afffairs department ,,,something that explicitly states "[Your Full Name] holds the position of Lecturer/Professor at [University Name]". this is different from a payslip or ID card and tends to work much better for this specific rejection reason because it has all the required text fields in one document.

about the payment method requirement.
to answer your question honestly ,,,,,, yes, github does require a payment method on file as part of identity verification for some education benefit tiers, its an anti-fraud measure unrelated to actually being charged.its frustrating that it doesnt clarify this upfront, but its a standard (if poorly explained) part of the process, not a separate hurdle they invented for you specifically.

your frustration is completely understandable,,, the feedback is generic and doesnt tell you which specific check failed. try the employment letter approach and wait 7 days before reapplying. hope this gets sorted❤️❤️❤️

[Zeclix1013]

No. What I submitted is not an ID card but an officially issued certificate of employment from the school, and it is formally stated as "title of position: lecturer." The school's official seal is also affixed, and it is signed in the name of the university president.

[maheerCodes]

ah okay then ,,,if the certificate already says "title of position: lecturer" with the seal and presidents signature, that should be enough on paper . if its still failing, it might come down to language/OCR,,, try attaching an english-translated or bilingual version if possible.

if that doesnt work either, id say this is genuinely worth escalating througheducation.github.com/discount_requests/newsince it looks like a system-side limitation at this point, not something you're missing. good luck❤️❤️❤️