Microsoft 365 Education Licenses and Usage
Overview
Microsoft 365 Education licensing allows faculty, staff and students to have access to a suite of Microsoft 365 applications that includes Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Due to changes to the licensing structure by Microsoft in August 2025, there are two types of licenses issued to Brandeis users.
Active faculty, staff, and students have access to the A3 license, which provides full use of the Microsoft 365 service, including the ability to install Microsoft applications on devices.
Temporary staff, scholars and researchers with affiliate appointments only, and contingent workers have access to the A1 license, which provides full use of the online versions of Microsoft 365, but does not include the ability to install these applications on devices.
What is included in the Microsoft 365 A3 license?
Your A3 license includes full use of the Microsoft 365 Office Suite, including online and desktop versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Your Microsoft Online account comes with 25GB of storage. Faculty and staff will need to sign into their Microsoft desktop versions to verify their license.
Students issued an A3 license after August 2024 will also be required to re-enter their Brandeis username and password when logging back into Microsoft products. Students without desktop applications will need to download the desktop version from www.office.com and sign in using their Brandeis username and password.
What is included in the Microsoft 365 A1 license?
The A1 license includes Office 365 for the web with online versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Your Microsoft Online account comes with 25GB of storage.
What is not included with the Microsoft licenses?
Brandeis uses Google for our primary email and calendar; we do not support Microsoft email or calendar tools and therefore do not recommend their use. Please continue to use Zoom or Google Meet for your teleconferencing needs and G Chat for direct messaging as Brandeis does not support Microsoft Teams.
Support
If you have any questions regarding Microsoft products or licensing, please email help@brandeis.edu or call X64367 (6-HELP) from an on campus extension or 781-736-HELP (4357) for calls made from non-campus lines.