OpenAI offers university students 2,500 Codex credits in the U.S. and Canada

OpenAI Developers said in a March 20, 2026 post on X that verified university students in the United States and Canada can claim $100 in credits for use in Codex. The linked Codex for university students page fills in the operating details: the offer is worth 2,500 ChatGPT credits, is limited to one grant per student, and is meant to support student builders using Codex inside ChatGPT.

The eligibility terms are narrower than the headline alone might suggest. According to OpenAI’s page, applicants must be current students at degree-granting universities in the United States or Canada and must also be residing in the United States or Canada at the time they claim the offer. Verification runs through SheerID. Students also need a ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, or Pro plan to get started, because the credits extend Codex usage beyond the limits already included in a ChatGPT account.

OpenAI is also explicit that these are not API credits. They are ChatGPT credits that apply to Codex usage in the student’s personal workspace. The company says the balance should appear as 2,500 credits, equivalent to $100, and that unused credits expire 12 months after the grant date. That makes this program less about standalone platform spend and more about giving students extra room to experiment with agentic coding workflows inside ChatGPT.

The strategic significance is easy to read even without speculation. OpenAI is trying to lower the cost of first contact with Codex for a cohort that is still forming habits and tool preferences. If students start building class projects, side projects, and startup prototypes with Codex now, that can translate into longer-term product familiarity later. That is an inference from the program design, but it follows directly from the structure of the offer.

The limitation is geographic. The official terms restrict the grant to U.S. and Canadian university students, which leaves out a much larger global student developer population. Even so, the program is a concrete distribution move: a bounded credit grant, a clear verification path, and a 12-month usage window tied directly to Codex.

Primary sources: OpenAI Developers on X and Codex for university students.