Attention students and teachers: there's a good chance you are eligible to get Microsoft Office 365 for no charge, according to CNet.com.

"Earlier this year, Microsoft announced it was giving away Office 365 subscriptions to New York City public school students, and later it opened up the program to students in dozens of countries around the world," CNet.com. said.

But now, any student or faculty member that can prove their status can have access to free download of the product, which includes unlimited access to Word, Excel and Powerpoint "plus the ability to collaborate with others in real-time using those programs."

In order for a student to be eligible, he or she must be a full or part-time student at a qualified school, be at least 13 years old, and have a school e-mail address to verify enrollment.

For faculty members, "[y]our school must have purchased an Office license for the entire institution through Microsoft's Volume Licensing program to participate."

In order to check if your school has done so, head over to the Office 365 Education site and click "Find out if you're eligible." After doing this, simply enter your school e-mail address and you'' receive an e-mail right away with the status of your eligibility.

If you're eligible, "[y]ou'll be able to install the software on up to five Windows or Mac computers, plus download the Office mobile apps for Android, iOS or Windows tablets or phones. Your Office 365 subscription also entitles you to 1TB of free cloud storage in OneDrive," the article said.

And if you're not, fear not. There's still hope for you and free Microsoft Office access.

"If you are not able to get Office 365 Education plan, there's still hope. You can still use Microsoft's free tools at Office.com, which includes Word, Powerpoint and Excel. Though they aren't the same as the paid desktop versions, they are only missing advanced features (like mail merge) that you likely won't miss anyway."

Read the full article here and comment with your thoughts below.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

08/06/2015