Unable to apply for GitHub Student Pack – requires email domain

[Hanserq]

Hi everyone,

Hello GitHub Education Team,

I am a full-time B.Tech CSE student (Batch 2024–2028) at Rayat-Bahra University, India.
While applying for the GitHub Student Developer Pack, the system only accepts school-issued emails (@rayatbahrauniversity.edu.in or @rayatbahra.com).

However, starting from 2025 onwards, Rayat-Bahra University has stopped providing official student email addresses.
I have reached out to the university administration, but they have not yet responded regarding this issue.

I am enrolled through the Sunstone-managed campus inside Rayat-Bahra University, but my official degree is granted by Rayat-Bahra University itself.

I can provide official proof of enrollment (admission letter, fee receipt) if needed via email or private channel.
Could you please help me verify my student status using my personal email address until my university resumes issuing institutional emails?

I would greatly appreciate any assistance you can provide.
Thank you for your support! 🙏

Name: Rakhib Khan
Program: B.Tech CSE (2024–2028)
University: Rayat-Bahra University

[1800797]

Hi, @Hanserq
I had a similar case — my school isn’t well-known and they didn’t provide us with an official student email either.

Here’s a small “hack tip (only for u 😉)”: when I applied for the Student Developer Pack, I simply used my personal ProtonMail (e.g. xiao.bytedance@proton.me) instead of a school domain, and uploaded clear proof of enrollment (admission letter, fee receipt, etc.). GitHub Education reviewed it manually, and I still got approved — now I’m enjoying the GitHub Education benefits including Pro.

So don’t worry too much about the missing @rayatbahrauniversity.edu.in email. Just provide valid documents and explain the situation — the Education Team can verify you without the school domain.

Good luck, hope it works out for you too!

[Hanserq]

Hi @Xmorinori 👋

Thanks a ton for sharing your experience, it really means a lot 🙏. Reading your reply actually gave me some hope, because I’m in a very similar situation. I’ve also been using ProtonMail for my application (same as you did).

Sadly, GitHub seems to have changed their process recently , even though your application seems pretty recent . They now require verification strictly through school-issued emails (like @rayatbahrauniversity.edu.in), at least in my case, and if we don’t have that, the only option left is to raise the issue here on the Community Discussions . That’s why I got stuck — even though I try to submit proofs, the system just blocks me because of the missing official domain.

Since from this year onwards my university stopped issuing official student emails altogether.

Really appreciate you taking the time to guide me here, it’s awesome to see how helpful the community can be.

Thanks again.

[samus-aran]

Hi @Hanserq 👋

We've updated our Student Developer Pack Application FAQs & Common Rejection Reasons discussion. It's packed with valuable information that might just have what you're looking for. I've included the section that I feel would best assist.

• My selected school states I must have a specific school-issued email address but it’s incorrect, what should I do?

Some schools do require an academic email especially when we have had other students be verified recently. Can we ask how you came about the information that the school will not provide academic emails, was that in writing? That could help with your request to update the schools information.

[Hanserq]

Hi @samus-aran,

No, it’s not in writing.

I was told by my Head of Department that some of the seniors from other departments had misused the university email, which might be why it’s no longer provided to students. However, there hasn’t been any official announcement or written notice about this, so I don’t know the exact reason.

I have read the documentation you shared, and while it was helpful, it doesn’t seem to cover the case where the university suddenly stops providing email accounts to students. If there’s anything further you could provide to help, I’d be really grateful.

Thanks a lot for your time and support. 🙏

I will also confirm if the university can issue a written statement about discontinuing or stopping student email accounts.

[Hanserq]

@raunak0400 Thanks for your advice.

Sorry for the late reply — I’ve been really busy these past few days as I was at the hospital.

The issue is that they’ve stopped manual verification, which brings me back here on the same forum. According to GitHub, my university does have student emails, but the university isn’t actually providing them to us.

Because of that, GitHub doesn’t let me submit any other proof of enrollment without the student email. So I’m kind of stuck in this situation.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions, feel free to ask.

[Hanserq]

Finally, I got my edu mail from university after insisting for 2 months .
It's been resolved .