December 2025 – Microsoft will release Microsoft 365 Copilot for Education, a new academic variant of its AI-powered assistant, at a price of $18 USD per user per month. This edition is a discounted offering for schools and universities, significantly cheaper than the standard corporate Microsoft 365 Copilot (which costs about $30 USD per user per month). It will be available to eligible education customers starting in December 2025.
What is Microsoft 365 Copilot for Education
Microsoft 365 Copilot for Education is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistant tailored for educational institutions. It builds on the same Microsoft 365 Copilot used by businesses, offering natural-language interactions and automation within the Microsoft 365 apps, but optimized for teachers, students, and academic staff. In practical terms, this means education users can ask Copilot questions or give it tasks in plain English, and it will use the organization’s data (documents, emails, lesson plans, etc.) and Microsoft 365 services to help generate answers or content. Just like the corporate version, it is integrated into everyday tools like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, enabling users to get AI help directly in those applications. The education variant includes all the core capabilities of the corporate Copilot, plus additional features aimed specifically at enhancing teaching and learning.
Key Features
- AI Chat Integration with Microsoft 365 Apps: Users can interact with Copilot through natural language chat across Microsoft 365 applications (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams). For example, a teacher can ask Copilot to create a summary of a Word document or a student can ask for help organizing data in an Excel spreadsheet. Copilot will understand the request and act within those apps to assist.
- Reasoning Across School Data: Copilot can draw from your institution’s data and files to provide context-aware responses. It can help summarize long documents, answer questions based on internal documents (like class notes or school policies), and generate content that aligns with the information in your school’s Microsoft 365 tenant. In short, it works with the information you already have – emails, documents, meeting transcripts, and more – to provide helpful answers and insights.
- Custom and Pre-built Agents: The education Copilot supports AI “agents” – specialized assistants that perform particular tasks. Users can use built-in agents or even customize their own. These agents are grounded in your chosen data and files, meaning they operate with the context of your school’s content.
- “Teach” Agent (for Educators): A pre-built agent aimed at teachers. Teach can help educators create lesson plans and draft teaching resources. For instance, a teacher could ask the Teach agent to generate an outline for a history lesson or come up with quiz questions on a given topic. This agent is designed to streamline class preparation and is included at no extra cost for education users.
- “Study and Learn” Agent (for Students): A pre-built agent targeted at students. Study and Learn helps students tailor and customize learning exercises and activities. For example, a student might request practice quiz questions or ask for an explanation of a concept in simpler terms. This agent provides interactive study aids (like flashcards or fill-in-the-blank exercises) and is provided free of charge as part of the education Copilot offering.
- Same Core Copilot Capabilities: Apart from the education-specific tools above, the education variant has the full basic feature set of Microsoft 365 Copilot. This includes generating drafts of content (essays, emails, documents), answering questions, scheduling assistance, and more – all through a conversational assistant. The key difference is that all these features are delivered in a way that aligns with educational scenarios and licensing, making it easier for schools to adopt.
Licensing
- Availability Date: Microsoft 365 Copilot for Education will be available starting December 2025. Educational institutions (such as schools, colleges, and universities) will be able to procure this add-on for their faculty, staff, and students (typically for users aged 13 and above, per Microsoft’s requirements).
- Pricing: The education variant is priced at $18 (USD) per user per month. (For comparison, the standard corporate Microsoft 365 Copilot is about $30 USD per user per month.) This lower price point is meant to make the technology more accessible to budget-conscious education sectors.
- Licensing Considerations: This offering is expected to be licensed similarly to other Microsoft education products – likely as an add-on to existing Microsoft 365 Education plans. Schools and universities should review Microsoft’s academic licensing programs to understand eligibility and requirements (for example, having an EDU tenant and qualifying faculty/staff accounts).
- Expert Advice: Navigating Microsoft licensing can be complex. It is recommended to consult with licensing experts (such as SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT) to get tailored advice on how to integrate Microsoft 365 Copilot for Education into your institution’s existing licenses. SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT can provide guidance on the best way to license this product and ensure you meet any academic eligibility criteria.
More Information
For further details, you can refer to the official Microsoft announcement on the Education Blog (October 2025). It provides more context on the new AI experiences for education and the academic Copilot offering: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/blog/2025/10/designing-microsoft-365-copilot-to-empower-educators-students-and-staff/.
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