The WordPress.com Scholar Plan Is Right here: Give Your Scholars a Web site They Can Stay

As of late at WordCamp US 2026, we’re formally launching WordPress.com Training.

At its middle is a loose devoted Scholar Plan, constructed to present scholars the equipment of a pro WordPress.com surroundings whilst they be informed.

Now, scholars can construct genuine internet sites in a certified surroundings that they are able to stay the use of after the direction ends.

We’ve been quietly piloting this for the previous yr, and it’s already reached greater than 5,000 lively scholars throughout 27 international locations. Now we’re in a position to open the doorways.

At WordCamp US 2025, Matt Mullenweg closed his keynote with a query: 

How will we give the following technology the most productive equipment, in order that they don’t have to put in writing with a borrowed pen?

That line is the entire reason why WordPress.com Training exists.

The Scholar Plan: Loose respectable WordPress.com equipment

Any trainer can follow for his or her magnificence at wp.com/edu and get, for each and every pupil:

• An actual WordPress.com plan: The similar platform thousands and thousands of companies run on. No watered-down “pupil tier,” no limited plugin get right of entry to.
• A loose area identify: Scholars can sign up a .weblog or .artwork area without charge (our two education-eligible TLDs for this preliminary section). 
• Plugin make stronger: Scholars can set up plugins and lengthen their websites as a part of their coursework.
• The primary yr, totally loose: No bank card required.

This isn’t a stripped-down school room model of WordPress.com. The Scholar Plan contains plugin make stronger, 6 GB of garage, backups, staging websites, SFTP/SSH, phpMyAdmin, and Studio Sync. Scholars be informed and construct with most of the similar equipment they’ll come upon operating with WordPress professionally.

After yr one, renewal is simply $2/month ($24/yr) — a value that assists in keeping the website on-line and available lengthy after the direction ends.

That ultimate level issues greater than it will sound. This isn’t a throwaway magnificence mission that disappears when the semester ends. It’s an actual website online, on an actual area, {that a} pupil owns and will raise right into a portfolio, a role software, or their first freelance shopper — for lower than the cost of a espresso a month.

And despite the fact that a pupil comes to a decision to not renew after the primary yr, not anything will get deleted. The website merely drops to a loose WordPress.com plan on a loose subdomain, and each and every web page, submit, remark, and media document the scholar created remains precisely the place it’s, totally intact and on-line.

No countdown timer, no “pay or lose your paintings” ultimatum. The portfolio a pupil spent a semester construction is theirs to stay, whether or not they renew or no longer.

Why we constructed the Scholar Plan for genuine school rooms

Academics let us know the similar demanding situations arise over and over:

Setup takes too lengthy. Growing accounts, configuring websites, troubleshooting get right of entry to problems — all ahead of the true coursework even begins. WordPress.com handles the infrastructure so you’ll be able to center of attention on educating.

Scholars lose their paintings when the semester ends. Maximum school room equipment delete the whole lot as soon as the direction closes. Motivated scholars who need to stay construction have nowhere to move. With WordPress.com Training, each and every pupil owns their website and will stay it are living for $2/month — or take their content material with them, anytime.

No longer each and every pupil begins from the similar position. Scholars in under-resourced colleges or international locations ceaselessly face boundaries that prohibit what they are able to construct or get right of entry to on-line.

This program offers each and every pupil the similar professional-grade platform, the similar customized area, and the similar alternative to create an actual internet presence — regardless of the place they’re ranging from.

Getting ready scholars for the actual internet 

Training methods all over the world are rethinking what virtual literacy way within the age of AI. 

We expect the solution begins with possession — no longer every other walled-garden software that disappears the instant a subscription lapses, however the open internet itself.

Scholars go away with a site they keep an eye on, content material they personal, and sensible WordPress talents constructed at the basics that energy over 40% of the web.

It’s already operating: 5,000+ scholars, 27 international locations

WordPress.com Training has been working effectively as a pilot program for the previous yr.

At IES Luís Seoane in Spain, advertising trainer Joaquín says giving scholars get right of entry to to WordPress.com from day one allows them to paintings in an actual surroundings. Greater than 20 of this system’s 30 scholars went directly to internships, and employers have been “stunned by means of the extent our scholars carry—no longer simply in search engine optimization and SEM technique, however in operating with WordPress.”

I like the ‘endlessly’ nature of this. My scholars can construct an actual portfolio that they are able to stay and use after the direction ends.

— Javier, Media Research Trainer, San Telmo Arts College, Spain

Survey effects from pilot educators verify this:

• 88.9% mentioned WordPress wisdom, blended with this system, improves their scholars’ employability.
• 81.5% mentioned it improves their scholars’ entrepreneurial capability.

Actual talents, on genuine infrastructure, translating into genuine results — internships, jobs, and the boldness to release one thing of their very own.

Construction the bridge to the neighborhood

WordPress.com Training may be a bridge into the broader WordPress neighborhood. Past our personal school room program, we’re supporting two WordPress.org projects with loose WordPress.com web hosting:

• WordPress Credit is a WordPress Basis program that companions with tutorial establishments to interact scholars in open supply contributions. We offer loose web hosting to individuals, and 150+ scholars have benefited to this point.
• WordPress Campus Attach is a WordPress.org initiative that brings native WordPress communities into upper schooling establishments thru student-led occasions. WordPress.com has subsidized dozens of those occasions with loose web hosting for organizers and attendees.

It’s about transferring scholars from “I’ve a website online” to “I’m a part of a world open supply neighborhood” and doing our section to enhance the systems the broader WordPress mission has already constructed.

Convey WordPress.com for your school room 

WordPress.com Training is greater than loose web hosting. It’s a program that works along educators to organize scholars for the way forward for the open internet, serving to them retain possession in their content material whilst strengthening their employability and entrepreneurial talents.

This contains projects similar to AI-assisted website online introduction, microcredentials, {and professional} certifications designed to construct sensible talents, validate wisdom, and switch concepts into real-world alternatives.

Educators can follow to carry the Scholar Plan to their categories at wp.com/edu.

In case you’re a trainer, division head, or program coordinator who needs your scholars construction genuine, lasting internet sites they are able to personal and develop — follow these days.