Microsoft overhauls Microsoft 365 Education portfolio

Microsoft has announced a broad restructure of its Microsoft 365 Education portfolio, introducing new licence tiers, a new top-tier AI offering, and the retirement of several legacy products - with all changes flowing through at an institution's first contract renewal or extension on or after 1 January 2028.

The updated lineup spans five tiers - A0, A2, A3, A5 and A7 - across faculty and student editions, with options available with or without Teams. The new structure replaces the existing portfolio progressively as institutions renew, meaning partners supporting education customers should begin planning transitions now.

At the entry level, Microsoft 365 Education A0 is a no-cost student option providing Office desktop and web apps, Minecraft Education, Microsoft Entra ID Free and access to Learning Zone. It is available to eligible institutions with full paid faculty coverage on A2 or higher, and to students actively using Windows devices for educational purposes. Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Teams are not included.

Microsoft 365 Education A2, available from 1 December 2026, adds Microsoft Classroom, Copilot Chat, Power Platform capabilities, Microsoft Entra ID P1, School Data Sync, mobile device management, standard auditing and email protection.

A3 builds on that with Windows 11 Education, Microsoft Intune for Education, and - for faculty - Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1, at no additional cost to the suite price. A5 retains existing capabilities and adds Microsoft Intune Suite to the faculty edition, also at no increase to suite pricing.

The new A7 tier is Microsoft's highest education offering, targeting institutions that want to deploy AI at scale. It builds on A5 with AI, identity, security and agent management capabilities designed to help institutions govern AI use across teaching, learning and operations.

Microsoft Classroom, included in A2 through A7, is a new teaching and learning environment that brings together Assignments, Gradebook, Classwork, Learning Accelerators, Class Notebook, a Teach module for educators and a Study and Learn Agent for students. Microsoft said it does not replace Teams education capabilities, which remain available.

The storage model is changing: from an institution's first renewal on or after 1 January 2028, the current 100 TB base allocation will be removed.

Storage will instead pool at the tenant level based on paid faculty and student licences - with paid student licences contributing to storage for the first time. Contributions range from 4 GB per student and 50 GB per faculty at A2, up to 12 GB per student and 150 GB per faculty at A5 and A7.

Three legacy products are also retiring; Office 365 A1 reaches end of sale through partner channels - including CSP and Volume Licensing - on 1 May 2027, and retires on 1 January 2028.

The Student Use Benefit programme retires across all education purchasing programmes on 1 January 2028.

The free Exchange Online for Alumni offer also retires on 1 January 2028, with a paid replacement available. Institutions with active enrolments that began before 1 January 2028 may continue using and increasing these licences during the current enrolment term, but cannot renew or extend them after that.

On pricing, Microsoft said it will extend its single consistent price model - already in place for services such as Azure - to all online services in Academic Volume Licensing programmes from 1 May 2027, applied at first renewal or extension. Existing agreement pricing remains in effect through the end of the current term.

Institutions can mix and match licences across student and faculty populations, with no requirement to assign the same licence to every user. Microsoft said partners and account teams should be engaged now to review upcoming renewals and plan transitions for customers on A1, Student Use Benefit and Exchange Online for Alumni.