Services · AI for coding

AI for coding at UMD

Education programs and benefits that can help faculty teach with AI, researchers experiment with APIs, and students build with professional coding tools. Start with your role, then check the program's eligibility and the kind of data you plan to use.

▌ Choose your path

Start with what you need to do

These programs have different audiences and application paths. Use these summaries to see which options may fit your work.

Faculty
Teach a course
Course support

Apply for Google Cloud credits, then distribute approved credit coupons to students for course projects.

Faculty · Researchers
Conduct research
API access

Explore Gemini API credits and higher rate limits for qualified academic research projects.

Students
Build as a student
Education benefits

Compare student paths for Kiro, GitHub Education and Copilot, and Google's student and no-cost options.

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▌ Google

Credits for teaching, research, and experimentation

Google offers separate routes for course projects, academic research, and individual exploration.

Google Cloud
Teaching credits
Faculty-led

Eligible faculty can apply for Google Cloud education credits for a course. After approval, faculty receive a distribution link or coupons that students redeem for course projects.

  • Faculty submit the course application.
  • Credits can support Google Cloud services, including Gemini models through Vertex AI.
  • Students receive access through the approved course allocation.
Teaching Review education credits
Gemini API
Gemini Academic Program
Research

Qualified academic researchers can apply for Gemini API credits and higher rate limits for research projects. Google reviews applications and awards access at its discretion.

  • Designed for faculty, researchers, and equivalent academic roles.
  • Supports evaluation, scientific discovery, human-computer interaction, and multimodal research.
  • Use the official program page for current eligibility and terms.
Application Explore Gemini for Research
Google AI Studio
Start with no-cost options
Individual access

Google AI Studio offers a no-cost tier for learning and coding experiments. Students can also review Google's current one-year Gemini student offer.

  • Create an API key and test Gemini subject to the current free-tier limits.
  • Rate limits vary by model, project, and usage tier.
  • Do not treat an individual offer as an approved UMD data environment.
Check API rate limits Review the student plan

Program amounts, eligibility, model access, and limits can change. Follow the linked Google pages for current terms before designing a course or research workflow around an offer.

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▌ AWS Kiro

A student coding offer is being prepared for UMD

Kiro is an AI coding environment from AWS with a student tier for eligible universities.

Student tier
What the offer includes
Students

Eligible students receive 1,000 Kiro credits per month for one year, intended for active use throughout coursework and personal projects.

  • No credit card is required for the student tier.
  • Unused monthly credits do not roll over.
  • After one year, accounts move to Kiro's free tier unless the user chooses another plan.
Review Kiro Students
When UMD access opens
How students sign up
SheerID verification
  1. Create or use a Kiro account associated with your university email address.
  2. Open the account usage page and complete student-status verification through SheerID.
  3. After successful verification, confirm the student credits appear before beginning project work.
Ask DIT AI Services about the UMD rollout
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▌ GitHub Education

Development tools for teachers and students

GitHub Education provides verified educators and students with role-specific benefits, including access to GitHub Copilot.

For teachers
Teach and manage coding work
Faculty

Verified teachers can use the GitHub Education portal to access education benefits and teaching resources.

  • Apply for education verification with your institutional affiliation.
  • Use GitHub Classroom and eligible GitHub Team benefits for course workflows.
  • Verified teachers can qualify for GitHub Copilot Pro at no cost.
Apply as a teacher Activate the teacher Copilot benefit
For students
Build with student benefits
Students

Verified students can access the GitHub Student Developer Pack and GitHub Copilot's student benefit.

  • Complete GitHub Education student verification with current academic documentation.
  • Review the Developer Pack for eligible development tools and services.
  • Activate Copilot separately after verification; benefits may take time to appear.
Apply as a student Activate the student Copilot benefit

GitHub Education approval and Copilot activation are separate steps. Use GitHub's current documentation to resolve eligibility or activation issues.

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