Cursor's Free Plan for Students is Great—But It Needs to Be More Inclusive
Cursor, the popular AI-powered coding assistant, recently announced a generous initiative: a free year of Cursor Pro for students. This is a fantastic move that helps level the playing field by giving learners access to powerful coding tools, often used in professional software development.
Supporting students with free access shows Cursor's commitment to education and innovation. With AI becoming essential in programming workflows, giving students hands-on experience early is incredibly valuable. It's encouraging to see more companies following this path.
But There’s a Catch
Currently, this offer is limited to students with an email ending in .edu. While this works for many U.S. institutions, it unfortunately excludes a large number of international students. For example, my university email ends in @uwaterloo.ca, and I wasn’t able to claim the offer.
This restriction creates a barrier for legitimate students studying outside the U.S. or attending institutions with different domain formats. Given that universities like the University of Waterloo, UBC, McGill, and many others use domains like .ca, .uk, or .ac.in, this leaves many students out.
A Suggestion to Cursor
We appreciate the initiative, but we hope Cursor expands their eligibility criteria. Accepting a wider range of verified student email domains or integrating with student verification services like Student Beans or SheerID would make this offer more inclusive and global.
Education is global, and so should opportunities like this one be.