If you are a student of NSTU or another university, you might get an institutional mail or edu mail from your university. There are a bunch of premium things you are going to get for free. As a failed CS student, I would probably be going to focus on more tech-related things than random daily things, deliberately.
So, after getting the education email, you have to create a GitHub account if you don’t already have one. Then,
Step First and Last: GitHub Student Developer Pack
Search “GitHub Student Developer Pack” or go to https://education.github.com/pack. You don’t need anything technical here. Just click on “GitHub Student Developer Pack”, give the information properly, your university ID card and other things. Wait one to two days, your account would be approved and you are going to see the “Pro” badge on your GitHub profile. Congratulations!
So, you’re done. You don’t need to read below. Just visit https://education.github.com/pack, scroll down the page, find what you want, create an account and use them. But, but..
Be careful, there are some services for 3 months, 6 months, years or for the student-lifetime. So, don’t create accounts impulsively if you don’t need them right now. You had better choose wisely. I may give you something that you must at least try.
- Notion: It is a great app for making notes and sharing them. I just love it, even almost everyone I introduced this application to loves it. It is for student lifetime. So, please, start it from the first day if you need it. Don’t forget to download as PDF and as HTML.
- Copilot: If you are a CS student, it is going to help you a lot. You may use it for making your coding easier, AI coding, vibe coding, and so on.
- Microsoft Azure: It probably gives $100 for free. I used this for probably a MySQL database, hence you are not going to host a MySQL database for free (there are some, but I found them too slow). There are various related services you can try. You may download some Microsoft “apps” for the student version, like MS Word, or something else. I almost forgot, but you can search a bit if you need something like that.
- DataCamp: If you are interested in AI, ML, or Data Science, it is a great site which is going to help you get out of the loop of tutorial hell. Remember, it is for 3 months only.
- FrontendMasters: If you are interested in development or software engineering or other coding-related things and eagerly want to learn from world-class developers, it is a great site to learn. But, it is only for 6 or 12 months. So, create an account when you have enough time. They arrange a few-day bootcamp where you can participate virtually.
- Scrimba: Scrimba is also great for learning software development. It is probably for 6/12 months. If you love interactive learning, it is probably a good choice.
- .TECH: You will get a .tech domain for 1 year for free. You don’t even need to add any kind of card or whatever.
- Name.com: You will get a free domain (.me, .live, .code, .dev and so on) for 1 year (maybe). But, you need to add a card to get this. They are not going to cut your money, you just need to cancel the renewal on time. I didn’t try them, but it sounds great to have a this type domain.
- DigitalOcean: For cloud-related services. I tried to use it, but for some reason I couldn’t get it working. You might have better luck.
- MongoDB: You may complete all your university or side projects with the MongoDB free version, but you are going to get some extra benefits by just creating an account with your edu mail. So, So, why not give it a try?!
Aside from the GitHub Student Developer Pack, you may find random other applications and sites that offer some free benefits just by registering with an .edu mail. Unfortunately, some of them require a payment card even though the initial offer is free.
- Gemini, Google Console/Firebase, Google One, Cloud, YouTube Premium and so on, you need a card.
- Claude
Honestly I can’t remember everything and I probably haven’t tried that many services myself.
Whenever you need a particular service, try searching for:
“[service name] student offer” or “[service name] student discount”
You might be surprised by what is available.
If you want to host your website (Static HTML, React, MERN, NextJS, etc.) for free, you may try:
- Netlify: https://www.netlify.com/
- Vercel: https://vercel.com/
- GitHub Pages
- Google Firebase
If you are interested in writing blogs or articles for free (free domain and hosting):
- WordPress.com: https://wordpress.com/
- Blogger/Blogspot: https://www.blogger.com/