GitHub Education - impossible verification

[carlosvicient]

Hi!
After some hours trying to reverify my account, I give up. Nothing works and I keep receiving the following message:

Unfortunately, we were unable to verify your academic affiliation based on the information you submitted on Feb 19, 2023 ...

You are significantly more likely to be verified if you have completed your GitHub user profile with your full name as it appears in your academic affiliation document plus a short bio.

...

Have questions? Join the GitHub Education Community for answers.

I took pictures of my employee card, edited my GitHub profile, and even sent screenshots of the official profile page under the university domain. I reverified my account in the past without any problem but this time I am not sure what else to do...I cannot find an email address to get help so trying here as suggested in the email I received.

Please, help!

Thank you very much in advance,
Carlos

[samus-aran]

Hi @carlosvicient 👋

First off I want to thank you for sharing your experiences and that we absolutely understand your frustration. We are trying our best to continually improve our system to be as easy as possible for legitimate students everywhere to verify their academic status, while also ensuring that bad actors impersonating students don't jeopardise our ability to provide academic benefits of value.

As you can imagine there are many types of academic verification and our system is constantly evolving to accommodate this without setting the bar too high. However sometimes we may require a little more evidence from the student applying and we thank you for being patient.

To assist with your rejection reason often this common pre-processing warning is displayed because the application detects differences between your profile information and the evidence you’ve supplied. We do request that students can demonstrate that their GitHub account corresponds with the evidence given. The verification process looks at your GitHub username, email, and name (as well as other points) to cross-reference the evidence submitted, so be sure that they match to ensure a smoother process.

Hope this helps, let us know how you get on 👍

[carlosvicient]

Hi, @samus-aran,
and thanks for your answer.
I just want to clarify that I am not a student but a teacher. I guess the process is similar though.
I understand the message I received but I do not see any differences between my GitHub profile and the proof I have sent. As I said in my previous message, I took a picture of my employee card ID and it didn't work. I also try to send a screenshot of my employee public profile (link to our university page) and it didn't work either. At this point, I do not know what else to use to proof I am still the same person who have been qualifying for Github education for teachers for the last 3 or 4 years.
Is there any other tip you can give me to guide me? Is there someone who can revise manually my application?
I fully understand the process and the reasoning behind these automatic validation but I am stuck now.
Thank you very much in advance!

[Miller-Wang]

I have the same problem, please help me.

[Z-K-O]

@samus-aran Same problem. I am extremely frustrated as the institution I work at has come to rely on this resource and now it is arbitrarily denying me even though there's nothing wrong with my application.

[Z-K-O]

I managed to get rid of all the error messages by filling out my profile more than what was requested by the error message. Submitted from work, using school network. Failed without even giving me any error message to fix anymore.

I switched back to my employee email ([...]@[school].[district].com) from my student-inclusive email ([...]@apps.[district].com). Previously, this failed my application because our ID cards have our district name prominently displayed and only our school's logos. It generated a specific error about campus name not matching my ID card for this reason. I have no idea if this is what fixed it or not, I was shotgunning solutions at this point. It finally succeeded.

2/10 experience. Dreadful. Human application review and assistance was deprecated prematurely. This system is not ready for prime time.

[jrh079]

I am having this same issue, I even included linked in which shows current academic achievements. Its not acceptable to not allow students to directly upload or paste proof, its like GitHub is intentionally making this very difficult. I have shaky hands as well and holding stuff infront of a webcamera is not ok. I have also spent hours of time when I need to be coding on my final graduate project. This process needs to be something that can be done quickly and painlessly. I also reached out to support, and they sent me back to the loop of holding papers infront of webcamera instead of giving option to upload a clear photo / screenshot. Please make this a feature to help all the students struggling with verificaiton process. Its beyond frustrating level and not acceptable especially for students with disabilities.

[StephenAnimates]

I received an unfortunate response from GitHub support. No suggestions for solving or fixing the issue, merely closing the ticket and asking me to post a question in the community.

When I search the education community here, I find numerous postings that the verification not working in so many different ways.

Now I no longer have access as an educator, as my "coupon" has expired. I've given up now.

[agentanky]

Can't take a clear picture of my papers and no option to upload an image

@samus-aran can you help out please. Thanks

you can drag files into the area. Whether they get approved or not is another thing, but you don't have to take a picture.. just drag them

[MidKnightXI]

• Scan your document.

  • Then download OBS and use the picture of that document as a virtual camera.

  • While uploading into GitHub change the webcam to OBS virtual camera.

  • You're welcome in advance

Doesnt work if your only proof is a pdf, what a great system 🤡

[StephenAnimates]

• Scan your document.

• Then download OBS and use the picture of that document as a virtual camera.

• While uploading into GitHub change the webcam to OBS virtual camera.

• You're welcome in advance

While this method may work, I would not recommend it. It is best to just drag and drop a photo (without modification) directly onto the window where GitHub is requesting camera access. While this will allow a file to directly uploading (by-passing the camera), the verification process can still reject if the uploaded image does not strictly follow the guidelines.

[StephenAnimates]

• Scan your document.

• Then download OBS and use the picture of that document as a virtual camera.

• While uploading into GitHub change the webcam to OBS virtual camera.

• You're welcome in advance

While this method may work, I would not recommend it. It is best to just drag and drop a photo (without modification) directly onto the window where GitHub is requesting camera access. While this will allow a file to directly uploading (by-passing the camera), the verification process can still reject if the uploaded image does not strictly follow the guidelines.

Thanks you for the way

but

Did you attempt to upload purely digital documents (original documents created digitally), or did you take a photo and upload the image? I would try both methods, as the verification engine may prefer one over the other. Again, it can also be what you are sending that caused it to fail.

[carlosvicient]

Hi again, I haven't been able to renew my account yet. Please, can anyone help? Is there any email address I can use to request some support?
Thanks again!

[carlosvicient]

Never mind, I think I got reverified now. I have just done the same as before.

[samus-aran]

Awesome to hear this @carlosvicient 🎉

The verification process looks at your GitHub username, email and name ( as well as other points) to cross reference the evidence submitted. Without knowing the details perhaps you updated your Profile Name to not have a variation of your name or nickname? It’s these small but important points to consider when applying that can make a much smoother process.

But I'm happy that you've been reverified! 👍

[tpkee]

Awesome to hear this @carlosvicient 🎉

The verification process looks at your GitHub username, email and name ( as well as other points) to cross reference the evidence submitted. Without knowing the details perhaps you updated your Profile Name to not have a variation of your name or nickname? It’s these small but important points to consider when applying that can make a much smoother process.

But I'm happy that you've been reverified! 👍

This system sucks, truly. I study at a remote university and I have to take a picture of my student card, which I don’t have, or of another “proof” which is basically a PDF. Since the back camera doesn’t work at all, I had to take an unholy picture of a pdf which was just so pointless and stupid. Besides, who would anyone pay thousands of money in enrollment fees just to get access to a meager suit of products?

Also, why would I use my real name and pictures on a damn git hub, for everyone to see? That means nothing at all, if I were a bad actor I could just change my name to match

[samleong123]

Hi , same issue here
Im a student under SMK Bandar Sri Damansara 2 , Malaysia , which is under the Ministry of Education Malaysia , but the school list doesn't have SMK Bandar Sri Damansara 2 hence i choosed another one that is available and under the Ministry of Education Malaysia , i provided my SAPS result slips (Sistem Analisis Peperiksaan Sekolah) and upload , but i keep getting the same error
You are significantly more likely to be verified if you have completed your [GitHub user profile](https://docs.github.com/en/account-and-profile/setting-up-and-managing-your-github-profile/customizing-your-profile/personalizing-your-profile) with your full name as it appears in your academic affiliation document plus a short bio.

I've updated my name and my bio , what to do next if i keep stucking here?

[zyad21]

I've already got verified Thank you

How did you got approved, i keep having the same message?

[Peins]

How did you got approved, i keep having the same message?

How did you got approved, i keep having the same message?

[MoonforDream]

我也是，我之前学生认证成功，但是没过几天就突然让我重新验证，验证时，上传按钮也没有了，然后申请总是被拒绝，就出现了在解决以下问题之前，无法审核您的申请：
如果您已经完成了您的 GitHub 用户个人资料，并附上您的学术隶属关系文档中显示的全名以及简短的简历，则更有可能被验证。
您是否使用所有相关信息（例如图像中显示的全名和简短的个人简介）完成了 GitHub 用户个人资料？，我不断的去改善，终究还是没成功

[samleong123]

I've already got verified Thank you

How did you got approved, i keep having the same message?

I change my profile name to real name (match with my school ID) and resubmit the verification
My school isn't on the list so I choose my school is not in the list and provide my school portal screenshot
And then after few days i get verified

[Vidhath5]

Yes it worked I just matched the school ID name with the GitHub ID. And voila it happened it was my bad at the end. Even the error prompt made me do this. Yes so do that it's case sensitive too so go word by word

[alekmitic]

Hello guys I have the same issue I am from Serbia and my school id is in Cyrillic and I think it messes the validation check.
Trying for some time this week to get this but still nothing. I have even raised a ticket on github but there is no answer for 6 days now.
If anyone can help I would appreciate it a lot.

Regards

[alekmitic]

I doubt that that is is the case. Because I can find my university in the dropdown and select, I just think their validation system is messed up

[Siunaus]

I think so too. I can also find my school in the drop-down list

But the problem is that no one cares about the problem of the verification system, and no one cares

[alekmitic]

@samus-aran Can you please see is there anything that you can do ? :)

[samus-aran]

Hi @alekmitic 👋

I appreciate the mention ⭐ Your rejection reason seems to be different than what the original poster had described. It would be much appreciated if these conversations could be in a new discussion so other users searching for similar problems can easily find your valid question 👍

But let's continue our conversation here. @alekmitic I believe what you are highlighting is that you are based in Serbia but the application process believes that the applying school is based else where?

[samus-aran]

I think so too. I can also find my school in the drop-down list

But the problem is that no one cares about the problem of the verification system, and no one cares

@Siunaus, 🙂
We appreciate your candid response and understand your frustration but lets not discredit the awesome work that the GitHub Education team does. We are trying our best to continually improve our system to be as easy as possible for legitimate students everywhere to verify their academic status, while also ensuring that bad actors impersonating students don't jeopardise our ability to provide academic benefits of value. ⭐

As you can imagine there are many types of academic verification and our system is constantly evolving to accommodate this without setting the bar too high. However sometimes we may require a little more evidence from the student applying and we would hope that most of our users would understand and show a little patience whilst we assist them.

We'll continue our conversation in the other discussion you've created and we hope we can have a resolution there.

[vanderschaarlabadmin]

I've also had to give up as this form will not submit.

I then created a ticket on https://support.github.com/. This was promptly met with the following automated message:

Hi,

Faculty applying for GitHub Education membership must demonstrate current academic employment.

You are welcome to reapply with official, dated supplementary proof, such as a faculty ID or employment verification letter, at:
https://education.github.com/discount_requests/teacher_application

For more information, please read:
https://docs.github.com/en/education/explore-the-benefits-of-teaching-and-learning-with-github-education/github-global-campus-for-teachers

I have then taken a lot of effort to coordinate with the universtity to obtain such a document.
Attempting to complete the original online form with the new document still did not work.
So I uploaded it via the help portal.

However, there has been no acknowledgement or response of any kind from GitHub support there for over a week. I am at the point of trying to look for some ways of contacting people at GitHub directly, this is becoming a big problem.

[samus-aran]

Hi @vanderschaarlabadmin 👋

We're sorry to hear of your frustration. As we direct users to utilise the community more and share knowledge on all things GitHub Global Campus sometimes, like this, users require explicit help. But we're here to assist ⭐

I assume you've posted in this discussion is because you have similar rejections as did the original poster. Please add any additional rejections if you have more.

Here are some tips on resolving the original posters rejection reasons:

• Ensure your evidence correspond to details in your GitHub profile. The verification process looks at your GitHub username, email and name ( as well as other points) to cross reference the evidence submitted. Do you use a variation of your name or a nickname? It’s these small but important points to consider when applying that can make a much smoother process.
• Ensure you select the most appropriate evidence type in the dropdown. The order of options indicates the preference of evidence with Academic Email being at the top. If you don't have an Academic email or Student ID, do try and acquire evidence that is positioned higher rather than lower in that option list.

Let us know how you get on 👍

[vanderschaarlabadmin]

Hi,

I am receiving the following rejection note every time:

Your application cannot be reviewed until you fix the following:

You are significantly more likely to be verified if you have completed your GitHub user profile with your full name as it appears in your academic affiliation document plus a short bio.

As you can see on my profile:
https://github.com/vanderschaarlabadmin
The name and the bio are set to show the correct full name (matches exactly my verification letter) and the correct bio (also matches word for word what is stated in the verification document).

There is no option to select the most appropriate evidence type here https://education.github.com/discount_requests/teacher_application
There is only an option to upload an image.

Help would be appreciated...

[vanderschaarlabadmin]

I have tried:

• Updating account name and bio
• Waiting for over 24h before re-submitting the form

This has finally allowed the form to get submitted.

[jrh079]

Its fully broken with my university address, try another email and your docs is my suggestion. The automated system is no good and if it doesn't like something it just wont let the process work, I tried 100 times on my university account with no luck, then I used a personal address with the exact same school document and boom it worked. That is ludicrous. No one from support ever assisted even when I tried different support channels. Good luck everyone. The wild thing is the tool I thought would be helpful wasn't even helpful for my situation so all of that stress was for nothing. At least I get to re hunker down and pave my own way for my project. I may be doing a conference paper presentation on a security topic too, github support unfortunately is just not there, too much automation and no customer care.

[samus-aran]

Hi @jrh079

First off I want to thank you for sharing your experiences and that we absolutely understand your frustration. I've posted earlier about it being a difficult task to strike a balance between ensuring legitimate students are able to successfully apply whilst keeping the bad actors out. This does sometimes make it more difficult for those that need that little extra guidance and I'm sorry you didn't have a satisfactory resolution in the end.

[Cao-Clouder]

Can Chinese materials be passed?

[ronaldosc]

I have the same problem, but the button for upload doesn't appear, even changing the options document's type.

[StephenAnimates]

I'm having the same issue. I am not willing to allow use of my webcam by the site to verify my staff ID.

[Reverier-Xu]

Hi, I have submitted 30+ times and none of them got an approvement. It just tips

You are significantly more likely to be verified if you have completed your GitHub user profile with your full name as it appears in your academic affiliation document plus a short bio.

I have successfully verified my student status on GitHub education for the past three years, but not this year. I submitted my student ID, CHSI document and a certificate of enrollment status stamped by the school, which should have been sufficient to prove my status. I have tried change my profile with real name that matches the document I uploaded and valid campus email, but this tips just show again.

By the way, I think it's a little crazy that you can ask me to submit more detailed verification information just for you, but I should not be asked to make all my personal / education information public on GitHub profile.

[Forest-Lee]

Same issiue. I used my transcript and changed my profile name to real name, then it passed.

[Vidhath5]

Having the same error. It says in my ID card that i belong to the university.i don't know how to prove to you or submit other documents as there is no option for it. Can you guys suggest a way where i can upload the required docs? Or any other method?

[ZZ2512]

Having the same error. It says in my ID card that i belong to the university.i don't know how to prove to you or submit other documents as there is no option for it. Is it because my student card is not in English ?

[WuKun-96]

I meet the same problem. Have you now solve it?

[vladknezdata]

Same issue. There is no upload button, and "The text in the photo you used was unable to be read." Feels like I'm in a Zoolander computer experts scene.
I updated the profile, photographed the student ID and the transcripts, both on a new iMac, on an iPhone, I use my school email, I'm working on the school project with other from school right now. Project is initiated and shared by a school professor. Location is also an issue since I'm not on campus. There are no documents issued by school that state anyone as a distance learner that I am aware of. Full time student at ASU, receiving student aid.

[ZZ2512]

Is there a manual service for this issue?

[Vidzhel]

Nope(. This was the second time I tried to apply, unfortunately nothing, even though I updated my BIO, name everything. In the support this is shown.

Gave up and bough Copilot

[43v3rn88b]

Hello just want to ask should your username must also be your real name? I already have been rejected 5 times and I'm almost giving up also, I don't know anymore if this "Freebies" thing is worth the disappointment that I'm experiencing right now.

[43v3rn88b]

Update: can't believe it, I've already been accepted to github global campus after a lot of rejections! The last thing that I did is change my username to my real name, but I still get rejected! So what I did is I refresh the browser since after I changed my username I am still signed in to my old username so I make sure that my new username is what I see in the "signed in as" before I reapplied to github for student. Hope you will also get approved soon!!!

[PhiBrain-ZhaoLiang]

I want to confirm whether it is the name in the profile or the username in the account.

[43v3rn88b]

On my profile I use my real name but my username is not my real name so the last thing that I did is to change my username to my real name, I know it's weird but that's what works for me I hope github would let anyone use their not real name on username since it is just a username!

[thienphamk1]

My username is already taken. So I added my birthday year to the back. I'm not sure but I hope it works.

[thienphamk1]

i was success. I was update my avatar, username (fullName + birthdayYear), bio (my school, my id student, my name). public my student email, update Pronouns (hi/him).
P/s : After success i was remove changes on my profile.

[PhiBrain-ZhaoLiang]

Hi guys, I have applied 23 times, except for the beginning when the students were approved, the next 22 times were not approved.
BTW: I am now a university teacher and hope I can apply for teacher benefits and be approved.
I have tried uploading my work documents, my work contract, my course schedule, and I even uploaded a document from my school to prove it, but it still won't go through.
I have also improved my profile based on the rejection prompt, but nothing has helped.
So is there anyone who can help me with this problem?

[SileAremu]

I am also having this issue

[SileAremu]

Thank you. I just did that. I will get back to you

…

On Thursday, April 6, 2023, byakuran ***@***.***> wrote: On my profile I use my real name but my username is not my real name so the last thing that I did is to change my username to my real name, I know it's weird but that's what works for me I hope github would let anyone use their not real name on username since it is just a username! — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#47976 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A657COOUG7ELBVMKP4NTPYTW7ZALNANCNFSM6AAAAAAVBCMA74> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[SileAremu]

How long will it take for me to verify my I'd. Its telling me my account is too fresh

…

On Thursday, April 6, 2023, byakuran ***@***.***> wrote: On my profile I use my real name but my username is not my real name so the last thing that I did is to change my username to my real name, I know it's weird but that's what works for me I hope github would let anyone use their not real name on username since it is just a username! — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#47976 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A657COOUG7ELBVMKP4NTPYTW7ZALNANCNFSM6AAAAAAVBCMA74> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[thiagoribeirodamotta]

Just wanted to provide my feedback through this process: I too was being rejected countless times saying there was a mismatch on my bio. What did it for my was to change my github account USERNAME to be the same as what was on the sent documentation. Now both my Public Profile Name and Account USERNAME are the same. Got instantly accepted after doing this.

[thienphamk1]

but my username is already used.

[ShangYuqi017]

I uploaded my school certificate, student card, and transcript, but it still failed. I want to know what I can do to pass it

[YEMIOYE]

Please help. I can't continue even after the texts in the box. What does these mean?

[PhiBrain-ZhaoLiang]

1. Make sure your current location is at the college
2. Use the school's network to apply
3. Do not use any proxy, except the school's proxy

[MidKnightXI]

I'm in South Korea as an exchange student how am I supposed to do that 💀

[MidKnightXI]

I literally have the same problem this is so annoying

[iamchanghao]

Still having the same problem as of today. Everything is already in English, yet the system continuously to reject the application, even if the enrollment letter is provided, my legal name matches the letter and the public profile name, and bios is also included. @samus-aran care to take a look? This is definitely frustrating.

[iamchanghao]

OK folks, here the story. After 7 tries, the 8th try worked.
As I mentioned above the original 7 tries should have already worked, as I didnt change any of the information for the 8th try. What I did change, is to use my phone. So I opened the same webpage on my phone, and instead of uploading image, I directly took an image using my phone's camera, and it worked.

[nh4ttruong]

The problem is still occurring with me. I'm retry so many times and the result not changes although I'm currently learning at university. I submitted the form with Certification from Training Center which certifies that I'm currently student at the university. What could I do to reverify academic?

[MingMingtheDuck]

I have fallen into this pitfall of registration nightmare. Seeing all these complaints and wasted hours... something needs to change big time on your end. I don't understand how you can make registration into such a horrible experience as this! Its so bad that you guys decided to turn off support for creating tickets and forcing everyone to come to the community board to vent their frustration and finding answers to help with their problems. So far since March, I still haven't been able to register and have no clue where to go next beside wasting time searching through the community board reading other people's frustrations.

My latest error message: Your application cannot be reviewed until you fix the following:
Your uploaded proof has already been used previously.

I haven't even been approved before as this is my first time so not sure where to go with this message. Maybe I'll try again once school starts up and I get my new student ID card.

[ianchb]

I agree with you, since I was rejected 120 times when I re-verify my academic status.
It used to be a great experience, but now, I just feel bothered.

[everythinguwannatobe]

Olá Carlos,

Sinto muito que você esteja passando por dificuldades para reconfirmar sua afiliação acadêmica no GitHub. Parece que você fez todos os passos necessários, incluindo a edição do seu perfil no GitHub e o envio de capturas de tela da página de perfil oficial sob o domínio da universidade.

Como você mencionou, a mensagem que você recebeu sugere que completar o seu perfil do GitHub com o seu nome completo, conforme aparece no documento de afiliação acadêmica, juntamente com uma breve biografia, aumentará significativamente a probabilidade de verificação. No entanto, mesmo após seguir essas instruções, você ainda está enfrentando dificuldades.

Neste caso, recomendo que você entre em contato diretamente com o suporte do GitHub para obter assistência adicional. Você pode tentar enviar um e-mail para [email protected] e descrever detalhadamente o problema que está enfrentando. Certifique-se de incluir todas as informações relevantes, como o número do seu ticket de suporte anterior, se aplicável.

Espero que isso ajude, e espero que você consiga resolver esse problema em breve.

[Yahoseph]

I am having a similiar issue but my error is different. It says that i am not close to any campus locations and that my documentation must say "virtual learning." I tried to upload my class schedule that says im an online student and my student ID. The system has rejected both. What am I supposed to do now?

[Shifath472533]

having same issue

[Shifath472533]

Why this process is rubbish and annoying?