Google Is Giving U.S. College Students Another Free Year of Google AI Pro

Google is bringing back its free year of Google AI Pro for US students, after releasing its new Gemini 3 Pro AI model today. Given that many of the new model’s most important features are hidden behind paywalls, this isn’t a bad deal, although it’s not the first time Google has done this. The deal follows similar promotions from April and August, although the most recent ended in October. The fact that this offer comes so soon after the previous one means that Google could consider continuing to roll out these trials regularly.

How to claim your free year of Google AI Pro as a US student

To receive your free year of Google AI Pro, first go to gemini.google/students and click Get an offer. You will then need to sign in to your personal Google account, where you will be prompted to verify your student status using SheerID. After that, Google says the sign-up process should be fairly straightforward, although, having now been out of college for over a decade, I’m not able to test it personally.

Note that you will need to provide a payment method and if you do not cancel the plan before the end of the course, your subscription will renew using the payment method provided. You also only have until January 31, 2026 to register for the course.

The most likely error you are likely to encounter is if your university is not supported by the trial, which is managed by SheerID. Neither Google nor SheerID specify which institutions are supported or not, but Google says that if you have any issues, you can contact [email protected] or go to the SheerID Help Center.

You must also be over 18, which means some first-year students might have difficulty signing up and you cannot use a supervised Google account, nor currently have a Google One subscription through Family Sharing or a third-party affiliate. Google says you can cancel an existing paid AI Pro plan to exchange it for the trial, but you can’t try to subscribe using the trial while applying a discount to the purchase of a Pixel phone (which would theoretically apply after the free period ends).

There are also conflicting communications online. The current terms of the offer state that you must “be a resident of the United States”, although the current help page for the trial still references previous offers, which have also been offered in other regions. I’ve reached out to Google for clarification, but for now I’m assuming the offer only applies to those in the US and expires on January 31st, given the information in the Gemini 3 Pro press release.

I also contacted Google to see if students who have already claimed the one-year free trial can extend the length of their offer by signing up for the new one, because while the help page mentions that “new and existing Google One members” are eligible, it’s unclear whether those already on a free trial count as real subscribers. I guess the answer is probably no, but I’ll let you know if Google tells me otherwise.

What you get with your free year of Google AI Pro

Your free year of Google AI Pro also comes with a free year of Google One Premium, which means it has some benefits for you, even if you’re skeptical of AI.

For AI users, Google AI Pro offers the following:

• Higher usage limits for in-depth research and newer models like Gemini 3 Pro

• Gemini 2.5 Pro and Gemini 3 Pro in AI mode

• Video generation with Veo 3.1 Fast and improved access to Google Flow and image generation in video in Veo 3.

• More remix generations and Veo 3 photo-video generations in Google Photos

• 1,000 monthly AI credits

• Increased access to NotebookLM

• Higher limits in coding tools including Jules, Gemini Code Assist, Gemini CLI

• Google Home Premium with Gemini features and 30 days of event history

For everyone else, you will always have 2TB of free cloud storage via Google One, which should be handy for all these missions. Normally, when you sign up for a Google One Premium plan, you also have the option to bundle an individual YouTube Premium plan for a 14% discount, although I’m not sure if this is included in the trial, so I’ve also reached out to Google for more clarity on this.

And that’s it! Personally, I wouldn’t see myself using most of these AI features, but the 2TB of cloud storage is good enough that it’s probably worth signing up for the trial just for that. Remember to be prepared to pay the $20/month price once your year is up, or cancel before then. If you’re looking for another cloud storage provider after your journey is complete, check out this list of the best free and paid cloud storage services for your options.