Google Tightens Free AI Pro Plan: Students Must Verify Identity or Lose Access
Do Son 
In May 2025, Google began offering a complimentary Google AI Pro subscription package to student users in select countries—a plan that is ordinarily quite costly but could be obtained free of charge upon verification with a university email address.
The free subscription, valid for 12 months, granted access to a range of premium services, including the Google Gemini 2.5 Pro model with advanced research capabilities, Flow, Jules, Gemini integration in Gmail, and 2TB of cloud storage, among others. Many users were particularly drawn by the generous 2TB storage bonus, and at the time, registration was remarkably simple—requiring little more than verification of an academic email domain.
However, Google has now begun enforcing stricter eligibility checks. To ensure the program’s intended focus and compliance, the company requires users to submit proof of identity confirming their status as students in specific countries. Those unable to provide valid documentation risk having their complimentary Google AI Pro subscription revoked.
The offer is available only to students in the United States, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, India, and Brazil. Verification is conducted through the third-party platform SheerID. Users who have already completed verification need not take further action.
Accepted proof includes an official student ID displaying the name, institution, and enrollment date, or equivalent documents such as tuition receipts, enrollment confirmations, or official school letters.
Naturally, those not enrolled in institutions within the supported countries will be unable to verify, making eligibility difficult to secure for many. The deadline for verification is September 23, 2025—completion before this date ensures continued access, though Google has not stated explicitly what will happen to users who fail verification.
Those who have already redeemed a student trial may continue using it, but to extend membership with an additional 12 months of discounted student pricing, identity verification will still be required. Some users have already encountered verification prompts upon visiting the Google One page, though it remains unclear whether existing subscribers will be universally subject to the new verification process.
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