OpenAI is running a student offer at chatgpt.com/students/2026: four months of ChatGPT Work at no cost for eligible U.S. college students. The page prices that at $80 and sets the claim deadline at October 31. There is no partial credit for claiming late, so if you are enrolled this is worth doing before you close this tab.
As stated on OpenAI's student offer page. Terms are OpenAI's and can change without notice, so confirm on the page before you rely on any of it.
| What you get | Four months of ChatGPT Work |
|---|---|
| Stated value | $80 |
| Who qualifies | Current full-time and part-time students enrolled at eligible U.S. degree-granting institutions |
| Deadline | Claim by October 31 |
| Where to claim | chatgpt.com/students/2026 |
Who is eligible
OpenAI's wording is narrow in one direction and generous in another. It is limited to the United States and to degree-granting institutions, so a bootcamp or a certificate program is unlikely to clear it. Within that, it covers both full-time and part-time enrollment, which is broader than most student pricing and means a part-time student finishing a degree while working still qualifies.
OpenAI verifies student status as part of the claim flow. Its FAQ also answers, on the page itself, the questions people actually hit: whether your ChatGPT account has to use your school email, whether you can claim it if you already pay for Plus, whether a payment method is required up front, what happens if you cancel inside the four months, and what to do if verification fails. Those answers are OpenAI's to give and they can change, so read them there rather than trusting a summary anywhere else, this one included.
Claim by October 31. Everything else about the offer can be sorted out afterward; the deadline cannot.
What it is actually useful for
OpenAI pitches ChatGPT Work around coursework and side projects. From its own feature list, the parts that matter most for a student recruiting this cycle:
- Connected tools. Hook up email, files and calendar so it can reach your actual course materials instead of whatever you paste in.
- Documents and decks. Upload notes, readings and data and turn them into presentations, apps and longer project work.
- Sites. ChatGPT Sites builds a working site, which is a fast way to get a portfolio or a club page online.
- Voice. Real-time voice conversation, which is the closest free thing to a mock interview you can run at 1am.
- Quizzes and visuals. Interactive quizzes with feedback, plus diagrams and infographics from dense notes.
The mock interview use is the one students underrate. Behavioral rounds reward rehearsal more than they reward preparation, and a voice model that will run the same question at you six times is a genuinely different tool from a text box.
The rest of OpenAI's student programs
The same page links three things beyond the offer, all free to look at:
- ChatGPT Futures. A cohort of 26 student innovators in the Class of 2026 using AI for research and building.
- OpenAI Student Collective. A campus program for running AI events and community with ChatGPT and Codex.
- 100 Chats. A collection of 100 ChatGPT conversations aimed at college students, covering study help, college advice and productivity.
What to do in the next ten minutes
- Open chatgpt.com/students/2026 and run the verification while you still have your school credentials handy.
- Read OpenAI's FAQ on that page if you already pay for Plus, since that case has its own answer.
- Put October 31 in your calendar as a backstop if you cannot finish verification today.
- Then come back and line up the roles worth applying to, because the four months run out either way.
Sources
- ChatGPT student offer, OpenAI. All offer terms, eligibility rules and FAQ answers above are drawn from that page as published on August 24, 2026.