By Viola Zhou
Reporter
Microsoft has rolled out a new program to students at Baylor and other qualifying schools a free Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus package.
The company announced the offer of Microsoft 365 Education for Students on Sept. 22. The free package includes the latest version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access.
Baylor Bookstore has been offering free Microsoft Office 2013 for Windows system and Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac, but students need to pay $15 to cover the cost of the CD, said Becky King, associate vice president for information technology and deputy chief information officer.
King said students don’t need to pay for the CD cost to get the new package that can be downloaded online. The regular price of the package for non-students is $12 per month.
She said the main advantage of Office 365 ProPlus is it can be installed on up to five computers or mobile devices.
“The media you purchased from the bookstore, you can choose to load it on a PC or Mac but not on iPad,” King said. “You can load this ProPlus on your iPad, iPhone or Android.”
King said students can use the Office 365 Education as long as they are students enrolled at Baylor.
“After they graduate and Baylor de-activates their email accounts, they cannot continue to use it,” King said. “Because it’s a product Microsoft offers to current students.”
She said staff members at Baylor’s Information Technology Services will be working with Microsoft to understand the new offer during the next couple of weeks.
“This is a brand new product and we are still learning,” King said. “We expect it will be a great benefit for students.”
Carl Flynn, director of marketing and communications for information technology and university libraries, said ITS may start some promotions on campus after it gets more information about the offer.
He said students can still buy the Microsoft Office disk at the bookstore. They can ask the bookstore staff or call ITS help desk if they have questions about it.
Students can sign up with their Baylor email address and access the free Office 365 ProPlus at https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/office-in-education-FX104367920.aspx.
