GitHub removes some models from free Copilot student plan

"As part of this transition, however, some premium models, including GPT-5.4, and Claude Opus and Sonnet models, will no longer be available for self-selection under the GitHub Copilot Student Plan. We know this will be disappointing, but we're making this change so we can keep Copilot free and accessible for millions of students around the world."

"The student plan still has access to many models including Claude 4.5 Haiku (normal price = Input $1 / 1M tokens; Output $5 / 1M tokens for output), Gemini 3.1 Pro (Input $2 / 1M; Output $12 / 1M), and GPT-5.3 Codex (Input $1.75 / 1M; Output $14 / 1M). But costlier top performers like GPT 5.4, Sonnet 4.6, and Opus 4.6 are no longer part of the mix."

"GitHub's decision has aroused ire. Woodward's post had garnered just 21 up votes compared to 2,874 down votes at the time this article was filed, as well as more than a thousand comments in the past two days. Most of the comments express disappointment, citing the educational benefits of having access to models that perform particularly well."

GitHub announced changes to its free Copilot Student plan, removing access to premium AI models including GPT-5.4, Claude Opus, and Claude Sonnet models. The company justified this decision as necessary to maintain free access for millions of students worldwide. Students retain access to more affordable models such as Claude 4.5 Haiku, Gemini 3.1 Pro, and GPT-5.3 Codex. The announcement generated significant negative feedback from the student developer community, with the announcement post receiving substantially more downvotes than upvotes and over a thousand critical comments. Students expressed disappointment about losing access to higher-performing models that provided educational value for advanced engineering projects.

Read at Theregister