Free Office Professional Academic 2010 Upgrades for Students Buying the Home and Student SKUs

Microsoft is offering college students that buy Office 2010 Home and Student edition free upgrades to the Professional Academic 2010 SKU. The Microsoft Office 2010 3 App Bonus back to School Promotion for College Students promotion runs in a variety of markets worldwide, with the software giant detailing the special deal’s dates in this FAQ.

College students in the U.S. have been able to take advantage of the promotion as of July 1, 2011, and those that haven’t still have until September 25 to do so.

All students are required to first purchase a qualifying copy of Office 2010 Home and Student from an authorized retailer, OEM, Microsoft.com or system builder. They need to not only buy the SKU but also download and activate it during the promotion timeline.

“Your activated Office 2010 Home and Student Product Key will be validated online during the redemption process. You should also keep your Office 2010 Home and Student receipt until you request and redeem your upgrade, as this may also be requested by Microsoft to confirm your eligibility,” Microsoft explained.

“After you have activated, visit www.office.com/3AppBonus to validate your purchase date, your student status and fulfill the download. You will be required to enter your date of purchase and your Office 2010 Home and Student 25-character Product Key, and create a Windows Live ID if you do not already have one.”

The Home and Student edition of Office 2010 packs only the following components: Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010 and OneNote 2010. Office Professional Academic 2010 adds three programs to this list: Outlook 2010, Access 2010, and Publisher 2010.

“Once you have passed student verification, you can download Outlook, Publisher, and Access with a download of Office Professional Academic 2010 or you can buy software for an additional fee. You will receive a new Product Key to activate your new products,” Microsoft said.

Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2460049) 32-bit Edition Service Pack 1 (SP1) is available for download here.

Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2460049) 64-bit Edition Service Pack 1 (SP1) is available for download here.