After applying to any US school, college, or university, you’d receive a free .edu email address associated with your name. Earlier, this specific email address used to be restricted to American educational institutions. However, now anyone can apply for a free Edu email address without having to be admitted to any school, college, or university. Thus, if you’re wondering how to create a .edu email for free, I’ve got you covered in this article. So, let’s start.
What Is A .edu Email Address?
Before getting to the perks of having a .edu email and how to create a .edu email for free, let’s understand its meaning. In simple words, it’s a domain extension provided by a school, college, and university to its students and staff members for communication purposes. Furthermore, a .edu email unlocks several other benefits (I’ll get to this next) for the students.
It’s mostly associated with US-based educational institutions. But, it’s slightly popular in Europe as well. The extension was first implemented in 1985 in which 6 universities, including the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), were the early registrants.
Structure of a .edu email address
If you’re admitted to any US-based school, college, or university, you’ll automatically get entitled to your free .edu address. It looks like this:
your_name@college_name.edu
Benefits Of A .edu Email Address
Apart from opening a streamlined communication channel between students, teachers, and other staff members as mentioned above, below are the other benefits students enjoy with their .edu email address.
GitHub Student Developer Pack
If you own a .edu domain extension, you can get the GitHub Student Developer Pack. With this pack, you’re entitled to amazing discounts and other free stuff to uplift yourself.
To sign up for the GitHub Student Developer Pack with your .edu email, follow these steps.
- Visit the official website of GitHub Student Developer Pack.
- You’ll find the option to Sign up for Student Developer Pack. Click on it.
- On the next screen, there are two options – Get student benefits and Get teacher benefits. Click on the former.
Next, you need to follow the on-screen steps, provide the relevant information, and get your GitHub Student Developer Pack.
Amazon Prime
The next perk of having a .edu domain extension is an absolutely FREE trial of Amazon Prime Student for 6 months.
The various benefits of the same include:
- Early access to deals,
- Prime FREE one-day delivery,
- FREE food delivery in partnership with GRUBHUB,
- Up to 10% off on flights and hotels in partnership with StudentUniverse,
- A FREE month of Course Hero, and an exclusive monthly discounted subscription that includes access to textbook solutions, practice problems, and expert tutors.
These are just a handful of benefits. You can find more such deals and offers on the official website.
Google G Suite Education
If the above two privileges weren’t enough, your .edu email address further adds 5TB worth of free storage for your ebooks, photos, videos, and all other digital data when you sign up for Google G Suite Education.
Microsoft Office, Azure, and DreamSpark
How can the software giant, Microsoft, stay behind in offering something valuable and productive to students? You can sign up for Microsoft 365 Education through your .edu email and unlock FREE access to other Microsoft services and products such as Microsoft DreamSpark.
Do you know a student can get an Azure student account with $100 free credit?
Autodesk
Last but not least, Autodesk, a California-headquartered American multinational software corporation, provides FREE software licenses to students in various disciplines such as architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, and the like.
So, these are the top five benefits of a .edu email address. Let’s now understand how to create a .edu email if you’re not a student or not associated with any US-based educational institution.
How To Create A .edu Email For Free?
As aforementioned, it’s now not necessary for you to be a student to have a .edu email or get admitted to any US-based educational institution for your free ID. Below I’ve discussed the top way to create a .edu email for free and that too legally. So, let’s start.
Create a free .edu email on OpenCCC
Follow these steps to create your free .edu email address on OpenCCC.
- Open the official website of OpenCCC.
- If you don’t have an OpenCCC account, you need to create one. To do so, click on Create account.
- Fill in your correct details if you’re a US citizen.
- If you’re not a US citizen, I recommend using any random fake address generator for generating fake information about you.
- Once done, go back to the Create Account page and start filling out the required details.
- To begin with, enter your First Name and Middle Name.
- In the Date of the Birth section, make sure to keep your age between 20-23 years to be eligible for the .edu domain extension.
- On the Social Security Number page, click on Yes, I have a social security number or taxpayer identification number and enter it. Click on Continue.
- You’ll now land on Page 2 of 3 to fill out your contact information such as the email address and phone number (of US only!).
- On the Permanent Address, add the fake US address and click on Continue.
- You’ll now land on Page 3 of 3 to add Security and Credentials information to your account. Here, you need to choose your Username and Password for the OpenCCC account. For additional security, create a 4-digit personal identification number (PIN).
- Select any random security questions. This is necessary to help you change your username, password, or PIN.
- Click on Apply now and choose any college from the given list.
- Fill in all other details, check all fields, and select Submit my application.
Congratulations, you’ve submitted your application for the free .edu email address. Now, you’ll receive the login credentials of your OpenCCC account with .edu as the domain extension.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
You can get a free Edu email by applying to a designated college in the United States. If not, try the above process and get your free Edu email address without applying to any college.
Yes, the .edu domain is absolutely free.
The .edu domain was implemented in 1985 in order to create a domain name hierarchy for organizations with a focus on education.
Platforms such as Google, Microsoft, Autodesk, Amazon, and GitHub allow students access special perks using their .edu email address.
Conclusion
So, here you go. That’s all about EDU email address, its benefits for students, and the most reliable and 100% working method to answer your query about how to create a .edu email for free.
Note that the above method is for both US citizens and non-citizens. If you fall in the latter category, make sure you generate all the required information like address, phone number, and other details through any fake information generator.
After you’ve gathered all the information as discussed above, proceed with the above steps and get your .edu email in your inbox.
Any doubts or problems? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
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