Every City University student will be able to get free downloads of Microsoft’s commonly used office software, officials announced on Monday.
The deal, engineered by the Partnership for New York City and the City Council, will provide up to 480,000 full- and part-time students with Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus, which includes MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
The company sells a four-year subscription to its software package to college students for $79.99.
“This program is unique and a model that I truly believe has great promise,” said Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “It makes students who are looking for work more competitive.”
Downloads of the software — on up to five computers — are available on CUNY’s Web site.
Richard Langford, director of Microsoft’s US Education Partnership Team, said the company realizes “there are jobs available without people being able to fill them because they don’t have the skills. So, this is part of the way Microsoft is addressing that.”