Need help: Student email tied to wrong GitHub account (cannot reapply)

[PixelApprentice]

Hi everyone,

Hello GitHub Education Team,
My student email ([email protected]
) was accidentally used to apply for the Student Developer Pack on the wrong account (salah590).
I removed the student email from that account, but the system still blocks me from reapplying on my correct main account (PixelApprentice) with this error:

“[email protected]
has already been used to obtain an academic discount on GitHub account(s) salah590.”

Please detach my student email from the salah590 account so I can apply on PixelApprentice.

Thank you!

[davevad93]

Hi @PixelApprentice,

Unfortunately, student benefits can't be transferred from one account to another.

It’s not possible to transfer Global Campus benefits over from one GitHub account to another.

However, you are able to merge your accounts, but the account with the benefits would be the main account. You can add your non-academic email from the previous account to the account containing the academic email. If you desire you can then rename this account once merged. For more details check out out the merging of your personal accounts documentation.

I recommend you contact support by opening a ticket here, select "Other" and ask if it's possible to revoke the student benefits tied to the wrong account to re-apply with the right one.

[Arjun-M]

Hi @PixelApprentice ,

This is a very common security feature. When a student email is used to claim the Student Developer Pack, GitHub "burns" that email in their Education database. Even if you remove the email from the salah590 profile settings, the Education system still has a permanent record saying, "This email has already claimed a pack."

This is designed to prevent people from farming multiple packs using one school email.

How to Fix It

Since the system thinks you are double-dipping, there is no self-serve button to fix this. You have to go through official support:

1. Go to the GitHub Education Support page:
   Navigate to https://support.github.com/contact/education.
2. Select the Category:
   Choose "Account, Billing & Payment" or "Education & Student Benefits".
3. Explain the situation:
   Copy the text you wrote above. Be very clear that salah590 was a mistake/duplicate account and that you want PixelApprentice to be your sole academic account. Explicitly ask them to "reset the academic status" for that email address.

Important Expectation

The wait time is long. GitHub Education support is currently experiencing very high volumes. It might take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks for a human to manually reset the email association.

Alternative:
If you have a secondary form of proof (like a school ID card or a dated enrollment letter) that doesn't rely on that specific email address, you could try uploading that to the PixelApprentice account immediately. However, if the system is hard-blocking you based on the email already being associated with the account history, the support ticket is your only way forward.