School Agreement from Microsoft is a subscription licensing program created to address the unique needs of primary and secondary educational institutions. School Agreement lets you keep your school's technology up to speed—even on a limited budget.  Note The information on this page applies to customers in the United States and Canada. Customers in other locations should refer to their regional Microsoft Licensing Web site or contact their local Microsoft representative for more information. On This PageSchool Agreement benefits| • | Easy compliance. Because all of your school's computers and users are covered throughout the subscription term, it's easy to ensure that your school is fully licensed for use of the products you've selected. | | • | Low administration. Subscription licensing eliminates the need to track licenses for individual School Agreement licensed products on every computer. This is especially helpful for managing software assets in a decentralized environment. | | • | Current technology. With subscription licensing programs, your users can run the most current version of the software products included in your agreement, and your institution automatically receives media for products that upgrade during your agreement term. | | • | Simple budgeting and purchasing. One annual payment covers all of the School Agreement products you've selected for the year. | | • | Excellent value. By standardizing on a platform of products, you reduce your total cost of ownership while helping to increase productivity and access to current technology. You also get the benefits of Software Assurance membership and one complimentary MSDN Academic Alliance High School membership. |
Product availabilityYou may order subscription licenses for a wide selection of Microsoft software through the School Agreement program. Please refer to the Microsoft Volume Licensing Product List at for a complete list of currently available products.
School Agreement Desktop Packages
If you prefer to license your computers and users for a standard set of desktop products, Microsoft provides the following "Desktop" packages, which offer a discounted price over the cost of licensing the products individually.
The School Desktop package includes:
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Windows Vista Enterprise Upgrade
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Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 and Microsoft Office for Mac 2004 Professional Edition
| | • | Microsoft Core CAL Suite |
The School Desktop with Enterprise CAL includes:
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Windows Vista Enterprise Upgrade
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Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 and Microsoft Office for Mac 2004 Professional Edition
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Microsoft Enterprise CAL Suite |
As with all products licensed through your School Agreement, you have the option of deploying downgrade versions (previous versions) in place of the current licensed version. For instance, you may choose to deploy the Windows XP Professional operating system instead of the Windows Vista Enterprise operating system.
Subscription termMicrosoft School Agreement is a subscription that gives you the rights to run the licensed software for a specified period. On your subscription enrollment, you designate whether you want a one-year or three-year licensed period. Your temporary licenses allow you to run upgrades and downgrades of the software throughout the licensed period. At the end of the licensed period, you may extend the temporary licenses by submitting an extension order or start a new subscription by signing a new subscription enrollment. With the three-year option, you submit an anniversary order for years two and three. Microsoft will not increase the per-unit pricing to your distributor for your anniversary orders above the prices for the initial software order. After the three years, you can continue your subscription by submitting a new subscription enrollment. Actual annual pricing is determined by your reseller. Reseller prices may vary. For this reason, we are unable to guarantee that the final per-unit pricing for years two and three will not change. Please discuss pricing details with your reseller. With the three-year option, you submit an anniversary order for years two and three. Microsoft will not increase the per-unit pricing to your distributor for your anniversary orders above the prices for the initial software order. After the three years, you can continue your subscription by submitting a new subscription enrollment. Please note that your actual annual pricing is determined by your reseller (not Microsoft). For this reason, Microsoft cannot guarantee that the final per-unit pricing for years two and three will not change. Please discuss pricing details with your reseller. At the end of your licensed period, you also have the option of canceling out of the subscription model either by purchasing perpetual licenses for the products you want to continue using or by removing the software from your computers. For details, see the School Agreement Program Guide (497 KB Microsoft Word document). PricingPricing for School Agreement application, system, and CAL products is based on the number of eligible PCs in the participating school or district. Eligible PCs include all of the Pentium III, iMac G3 or equivalent or better computers. You must also include any other computers (such as older Pentium computers) on which any software will be run. Please contact your Microsoft Authorized Education Reseller or your local Microsoft representative at (800) 426-9400 ext 11218 for more details. Placing your orderThe minimum requirement for the initial order you place under a subscription enrollment is 300 units. Total units per order are determined by combining your application, system, and CAL units with your server units. You can choose any individual product or combination of products to meet this requirement. To determine your application, system, and CAL units, multiply the total number of application, system, and CAL products selected by your total number of eligible PCs. Unit values for application, system, and CAL products are not weighted—each has a unit value of one. For example, a school licensing 100 eligible PCs for Windows Upgrades, Microsoft Office Professional, and Microsoft Core CAL would calculate their application, system, and CAL units as follows: 
For server products, you multiply the unit value for the server product by the number ordered. Each server product is assigned a specific unit value. Please refer to the Microsoft Volume Licensing Product List for unit values. If the same school as in the example above orders two SQL Server Standard Edition Processor Licenses, they would calculate their server units like this: 
By combining their application, system, and CAL units with their server units, they reach a total of 400 units—exceeding the 300 unit minimum requirement. 
Software AssuranceEvery license you acquire through your School Agreement is automatically covered under Microsoft Software Assurance. Software Assurance is a comprehensive maintenance program that can help you gain control of your technology strategy, improve information technology (IT) staff skills, decrease support spending, and effectively plan for new software deployments. Learn more. MSDN Academic Alliance High School membershipFor each School subscription enrollment, Microsoft provides one complimentary MSDN Academic Alliance (MSDNAA) High School membership. This membership may be used for a single school. The MSDNAA High School membership entitles you to install Microsoft Visual Studio and other tools on every instructional computer within your school and check out the software to students. You also get access to special training tools and resources for your teachers and students. Learn more. You can activate your membership online. You'll need your institution's School Agreement Subscription Enrollment number and a special promotional code that is included on your School Agreement enrollment acceptance letter. If you want to purchase annual memberships for additional schools, you can do so from the MSDN AA Web site. Once your registration has been processed, you will receive an initial Welcome Kit that contains all of the software. After the initial shipment, you will receive regular CD updates approximately every month.
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