👨‍🎓 Student Discount - Details, Updates, Q&As

[zprinceedwin]

Hello, I am a student from the Philippines, I was successfully verified using my github for student account, therefore my main email was used not my student email, now I received an email that its going to be revoked because i did not use the edu email. Will my main email get charged after revoked? Will Philippines also be added in the list of countries? College institutions here uses “edu.ph”

[NgQsang]

Subject: Student Discount Account Flagged Incorrectly

Hi Cursor Support,

I recently received access to a Pro student account after registering with my student credentials (at 7/5/2025 as the picture 1). However, just three days later (today 10/5/2025), I received an email (attached) stating that my account has been flagged for “unusual patterns and fraudulent activity” and will be revoked by May 11 (as the picture 2).

I believe this may be due to the fact that I missed the email verification step at the time of registration (as the picture 3). I saw the email now and just confirmed it today.

I want to clarify that I am a legitimate student and used my real information ( [email protected] from VNUHCM - International University) during the verification process. I believe this might be a false positive from your fraud detection system. Could you please review my case and let me know if there’s any additional documentation I can provide to prove my student status? (example picture of student id card, …)

Please kindly review and confirm my account again, as I’d love to continue using Cursor for my studies.

Thank you very much,
NGUYEN QUANG SANG

[_alanjunqueira]

@demouo

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

Same here I’m a student from Brasil at “Estacio” ead course, 4th period 4/8. My github account is correctly verified, but today I’ve received this email too.

[NgQsang]

mình cũng bị á cậu

[Shannon10]

Cursor’s Student Discount? A Blatant Marketing Scam!
I’m a dedicated Cursor user and a current university student. Previously, I had already subscribed to Cursor’s Pro plan. When I heard about Cursor’s student discount, I was genuinely thrilled. Immediately, I shared this exciting news with dozens of my classmates, enthusiastically promoting Cursor and even helping them navigate the verification process. We diligently uploaded legitimate student verification documents and used our official .edu email addresses.

Initially, everything went smoothly—our applications were quickly approved within just two hours. However, to our surprise and frustration, today we all received a shocking email from Cursor stating our student discounts were abruptly revoked.

In the email, Cursor stated:

"Recently, we detected unusual patterns and fraudulent activity associated with a subset of student verifications. After a thorough investigation, we regret to inform you that we must revoke student discounts for accounts flagged by our fraud detection software to maintain the integrity of our student program.

Unfortunately, your account has been identified as part of this affected group. As a result, your student discount will be discontinued by end of day on May 11.

We understand this may be disappointing news. Our student discount program is designed to make our services more accessible to genuine students, and we must take necessary steps to prevent misuse that could jeopardize this initiative for everyone.

Thank you for your understanding."

We are deeply disappointed and feel profoundly misled by Cursor’s decision.

Cursor’s student discount policy has continually changed without clear communication. Initially, it was promoted as accessible to students worldwide, but gradually they excluded students from countries such as China, India, Bangladesh, and Turkey without any official announcements or explanations.

Now, Cursor has gone even further, unjustly revoking the student discounts of every legitimate non-U.S. student user who applied through authentic documents and valid .edu emails, citing vague and unsupported claims of “fraudulent activity.” This action appears entirely subjective and seems conveniently timed—leveraging genuine students for free publicity and increased visibility, only to discard them afterward.

This is clearly a blatant marketing scheme disguised as genuine student support! Cursor has blatantly disregarded user rights and exploited genuine student enthusiasm and trust.

I strongly urge everyone to remain vigilant against such irresponsible marketing practices. Cursor owes every affected user a sincere explanation and an official apology!

[FerryHuang]

Indeed

[asimalicm]

I Got this email today morning saying my student account is being revoked. I’m a student from india. I don’t know if I was revoked for adding my unadded school. I was genuinely excited for this offer and now I’m heavily disappointed by cursor.

[Zerolfl]

I am a student from Hong Kong. I applied and was previously approved for the student discount through the process provided by Cursor. However, my eligibility has now been revoked due to a geographic restriction that was not explicitly disclosed in the original application terms.

I sent an email to [email protected] to seek possible solutions to verify my student status. Unfortunately, the brief response I received is just one sentence — “Sorry your country is not yet supported for the Student Discount” — did not adequately address the concerns I raised, nor did it reflect the level of transparency and professionalism I expect from a service I value and support.

From discussions in the community, it appears that many students — particularly those outside the US — have been uniformly excluded without clear communication or alternative options. I sincerely hope that Cursor can issue an official clarification and offer a fair resolution, rather than providing vague, dismissive responses.

Promoting student discounts to attract users while later retroactively revoking benefits raises serious concerns about business integrity. Such practices make users question whether even paying customers might one day see their entitlements quietly diminished.

[TheSingular]

Almost the same here, except that I’m done with my classes and am doing my thesis. I tried Cursor out when I heard about it, and it was really impressive. It was just so helpful with putting my ideas into code that I subscribed to pro as soon as the trial period was over. Then I was very happy when I heard students would get a year for free, so I signed up with that immediately. And today, I got the same mail, and I’m really disappointed in Cursor in a lot of ways.

[Xplore]

Student Discount Approved, Then Revoked with Contradictory Reasons – What’s Going On, Cursor?

Hi @danperks,
I’m hoping to get some clarity or see if others have experienced something similar with the Cursor student discount program. I’m a paying Pro user who recently had a very confusing and frustrating experience.
Here’s a quick rundown:

1. Happily Upgraded to Pro: I’ve been a Pro subscriber since April 20th.
2. Student Discount Success (Initially!): On May 7th, I applied for the student discount using my Gmail account. I did this because I understood that as an existing subscriber, I could potentially receive a refund for prior payments once my student status was approved. This is why I used my Gmail account for the application and linked my .edu mail for SheerID verification – a process which the system clearly allowed. The verification was successful, and Cursor granted me the student discount on the same day.

• (For transparency, there were two “paid” records on May 7th because the discount first applied to my existing monthly plan, and then I immediately changed it to an annual student plan – all systems normal
  
  
  
  ).

3. The First Shock – “Fraud” Accusation: Just three days later, I received an email today (10th,May,2025 UTC) stating my student discount was being revoked by May 11th due to “unusual patterns and fraudulent activity detected by our fraud detection software.” I was surprised, as SheerID had verified me, and I’m obviously a legitimate student (In the Urgent appeal email which you can tell from the screenshot above, I’ve attached my student card and certification to prove I am current a registered student).
   

   

4. The Main Issue – The Story Changes: I immediately emailed [email protected] to contest the “fraud” claim and offered to provide any necessary proof of my legitimate student status. Instead of addressing the fraud allegation, the response I got (which seemed automated) stated a completely different reason: my student discount was being revoked because my country (Singapore) is supposedly not supported by the program.
   

   

This is where my main frustration lies and why I’m posting:

How can my student discount be successfully approved by your system (which should have already factored in my location if it was an issue), then revoked for alleged “fraud,” and then, when I challenge the fraud claim, the reason suddenly changes to my country not being supported?

• If my country was an issue, why was I approved in the first place via SheerID and your system?
• Why was “fraud” the initial reason given, only for it to be replaced by a geographical restriction when I offered to prove my legitimacy?

This inconsistency is deeply concerning. It makes the process feel arbitrary and unfair. I acted in good faith, was verified, and had the discount applied, only for it to be taken away with shifting justifications.

Has anyone else experienced this kind Cursort of contradictory reasoning? More importantly, I’d appreciate it if the Cursor team could shed some light on why this happened. If a policy regarding country support changed, this should be communicated clearly and not applied retroactively to users already approved, especially not under the guise of a “fraud” accusation first.

I genuinely like Cursor and want to continue using it, but this experience has been very disappointing.I am posting this because I am confused and dissatisfied with this situation.My aim is to point out what I believe are unreasonable aspects of this process and to advocate for my legitimate rights in this matter. Ultimately, I only want a clear clarification and a satisfactory solution from Cursor.

Thanks for reading.

[oot]

I was duly verified through the student promotion offered by Cursor and completed the verification and payment process without any circumvention.

However, today I received a notice that my account was canceled for being fraudulent.

When I protested with my enrollment certificate attached,

they changed their story, saying that my country is not supported.

Doesn’t this make no sense? I selected my country on the page you provided, verified that it was a real university, and received the promotion. Yet, you unilaterally treat me like a fraud by calling me a fraudulent account.

I was already paying legitimate money to use Cursor, but I will absolutely never do so again.

[lqs2004]

Why hasn’t your team admitted its mistake in the verification mechanism? Does it mean that after using a personal account for verification, I will no longer be able to enjoy student discounts?

[JohnDoe]

Since the Cursor Team does not seem to be aware of it, here is a giant list of verified non-edu school domains by JetBrains: GitHub - JetBrains/swot: Identify email addresses or domains names that belong to colleges or universities. Help automate the process of approving or rejecting academic discounts.

It would avoid a lot of frustration to check that list before accusing users of fraud.

[kenryu]

100% agree. It is very well-maintained and reliable source for verifying academic domains. The Cursor team should be referencing it.

[psv2522]

They probably wont be apologizing for their own mistake, lets move on from cursor they consider everyone except people from a few countries in their list as fraud. They could’ve given student discount like windsurf, but they tried to one up copilot as well after raising a round and got greedy. Github student pack allows for free copilot as well, we must embrace other open source tools instead of accepting this shameless act.

[jimmyhealer]

I also received the same email today. However, when I tried to reply, I received a message from the mail server saying that the domain mail.cursor.com could not be found, and my email wasn’t delivered.

[iondex]

I also got an email saying my student discount will be revoked because of fraud detection. However I am an official student and got verified with my official proof of enrollment from my university. What should I do?

[dungfly98]

Hi @danperks ,
Thank you for your email regarding the student discount program. I am deeply disappointed to learn that my account has been flagged and my student discount is set to be discontinued by May 11. I want to clarify that I am a genuine student and have been using the discount legitimately.

I hold a valid student ID and can provide any necessary documentation to verify my student status. My account was created solely for my personal use as a student, and I have not engaged in any fraudulent activity. Could you please explain why my account was flagged? I believe this decision may be an error, and revoking my discount feels unfair, especially without prior warning or an opportunity to address the issue.

I greatly value your services and the student discount, which has made them accessible to me. I kindly request a review of my case and the reinstatement of my discount. I am happy to provide any verification documents needed to confirm my eligibility.

Thank you for your time and understanding. I look forward to your response.

[anomy]

Hi @danperks I recently received an email about the revocation of my student discount, and I was quite surprised. I had applied using my genuine personal details and student ID, all under my own name, and was granted the subscription just a few days ago.

I assure you that I have not engaged in any fraudulent activity. If needed, I am more than willing to provide my documents again for verification. It feels unfair to have my access revoked without a proper explanation, especially after being approved.

Please reconsider or let me know how I can resolve this.

[rafael-rm]

As a legitimate student, I signed up and was approved for the student discount, but now, without any prior warning in the sign-up terms, my eligibility has been revoked due to an undisclosed geographic restriction.

Moreover, it’s clear from community discussions that many other students, especially those outside the U.S., have been simply excluded, with no explanation or alternatives offered. This raises serious concerns about the transparency and integrity of the company. Offering discounts to attract users, only to retroactively withdraw those benefits, shows a total lack of respect for customers.

Accusing legitimate students of fraud and canceling their subscriptions without any valid justification is not only unethical but also tarnishes the company’s reputation. I feel deeply frustrated and disrespected to be treated this way, with no real solution or explanation provided.

I hope Cursor has the decency to offer a public clarification and a fair resolution, but honestly, I’m left wondering if this could happen to any customer, even paying ones, in the near future.