I'm Broke and These AI Coding Tools Cost More Than My Textbooks

I'm gonna be real with you - GitHub Copilot is the only AI coding tool that doesn't completely suck. When it works.

The problem is getting it to work. GitHub says they give students free access, but their verification system is broken as hell. I applied three times before it worked, and I'm from Canada with a .edu email. My friend from India has been trying for eight months.

Getting Past GitHub's Broken Verification

The GitHub student pack is supposed to give you free Copilot, but good luck actually getting approved. Here's what worked for me:

• Upload literally everything. Transcript, student ID, enrollment letter from registrar
• Don't use a VPN when applying
• Apply early in the semester, not when you're desperate at finals
• If rejected, wait two weeks and try again with different documents

Once you get Copilot working, it's pretty decent for generating boilerplate code. Don't expect it to solve algorithms though - I tried using it for a dynamic programming assignment and it kept suggesting for i in range(len(array)) when I needed for i in range(len(array) - 1). Took me 3 hours to debug what should've been a 20-minute problem.

Claude is Expensive But Sometimes Worth It

Claude Pro costs 20 bucks a month and there's no student discount. I only subscribe during my hardest classes because I'm not made of money.

It's really good at explaining concepts when your professor sucks at teaching. Like when I was taking operating systems and couldn't figure out how semaphores worked, Claude actually broke it down with mutex examples that made sense. But it burns through rate limits fast - I hit the daily limit three times during finals week. Nothing like getting "Please wait 3 hours" when you're debugging at 2am.

Cursor is Fancy But Crashes A Lot

Cursor costs 20 bucks a month and is basically VSCode with AI baked in. The AI is pretty good but the editor crashes constantly. I lost code twice before I learned to save obsessively. Version 0.42 was especially bad - would crash every time I opened a large React project.

They have a student program but it only works in certain countries. If you're from India or Nigeria, you're screwed.

What I Actually Spend

Freshman/Sophomore year: Nothing. I used free VSCode IntelliSense and suffered through writing everything manually.

Junior year: Started paying for Claude Pro during operating systems and algorithms classes. Probably spent 60 bucks total that semester... or was it 80? I don't track this shit carefully enough.

Now: GitHub Copilot (free through student pack) and Claude Pro when I'm struggling. Maybe 40 bucks this semester so far.

Free Alternatives That Don't Completely Suck

If you can't get the GitHub student pack to work, try Continue.dev. It's free and works in VSCode. Setup takes like 20 minutes and you need to get your own API keys but it's better than nothing.

There's also Tabby if you want to host your own AI assistant, but honestly that sounds like more work than it's worth unless you're really into that stuff.

Don't Become Totally Dependent on This Stuff

I made this mistake sophomore year - used Copilot for everything and then completely bombed a coding interview when I had to write code on a whiteboard. Couldn't even implement binary search without autocomplete. Embarrassing as hell.

The AI is great for boilerplate and tedious stuff, but you need to understand what it's doing. Don't just copy-paste AI code into your assignments without reading it.

Practice writing code without any AI help regularly, especially for data structures and algorithms. The kids who rely on AI for everything get destroyed in technical interviews.

If you're not from the US or Europe, these companies don't want your money. Well, they do want your money, but they don't want to give you student discounts.

I've seen friends with perfect GPAs from good universities get rejected by GitHub's verification system while random American kids with 2.5 GPAs get approved instantly. It's bullshit.

GitHub's Verification System Hates Non-Americans

GitHub says they support international students but their verification system is garbage if you're not American.

US kids with .edu emails get approved in like a day. International students wait weeks and get rejected for no reason.

My friend from IIT (literally one of the hardest schools to get into) got rejected four times despite having perfect English transcripts. Meanwhile, some random kid from community college in Ohio gets approved the same day. Same exact documents, different passport color. The system is fucked.

If you want to try beating their system:

• Get your transcripts translated to English (expensive but sometimes works)
• Upload everything - student ID, enrollment letter, transcripts
• Don't apply during busy times like start of semester
• If rejected, wait a few weeks and try again with different docs

Don't mention VPNs or anything that looks sketchy.

Cursor Straight Up Discriminates

Cursor's student program only works in certain countries. If you're from India, Brazil, Nigeria, or most of Asia/Africa, you're automatically excluded.

It's not even about verification - they just don't allow students from those countries. Pretty fucked up.

Free Alternatives When You're Excluded

Continue.dev - Free VSCode extension that works okay. Takes like 30 minutes to set up and you need your own API keys, but it's better than nothing.

Tabby - You host it yourself so no one can kick you off. Pain in the ass to set up and needs decent hardware though.

Should You Use a VPN?

I know people who fake being American with VPNs. It's against the terms of service and you could get banned, but I haven't heard of anyone getting in legal trouble.

Try the legitimate options first. If nothing works and you really need it for internship applications, that's your call.

The Money Problem

$20/month means different things in different places:

• US: What you spend on coffee
• Europe: Annoying but manageable
• India: Might be a week's food money
• Nigeria: Could be your whole entertainment budget

This is why I get annoyed when American students complain about $10 for Copilot. Try being international where that's a significant expense.

What to Do If You're International

Option 1: Keep fighting GitHub's verification with better docs each time. Get stuff translated to English if needed. Most people eventually get through.

Option 2: Find some classmates and split accounts. One person pays, others use the password. Works until someone graduates or gets selfish.

Option 3: Use free stuff only. Continue.dev, Claude free tier, whatever you can get. You'll code slower but you'll learn.

Option 4: Bug your CS department about group licenses. Sometimes they have deals they don't advertise.

Bottom Line

The system sucks for international students. These are American companies who care about American students first.

Don't let it stop you from learning though. Use whatever tools you can get, but don't become dependent on them. Learn to code without AI assistance so you're not screwed in interviews.

Maybe these companies will change when they realize they're missing out on talent. Until then, use what you can get and focus on getting good at coding.