Academic & Education Program — Free Benecaster for Campus Podcasts
Campus Podcast? It’s on Us.
Students, faculty, and staff producing podcasts for their educational institution get a free Growth plan — private subscriber feeds, subscriber management, and the full episode toolkit. No platform fees. Yours to keep while you’re affiliated.
Need more than Growth? Higher plans are available at 20% off for qualifying institutions.
For Shows Built by and for Campuses.
Benecaster’s Academic Program covers current students, faculty, and staff producing podcasts in an institutional context, at accredited colleges and universities and at K–12 schools recognized by their state or national education authority, public, private or parochial. That includes:
Students Campus radio, journalism school shows, research podcasts, student union productions, course projects, anything produced as part of campus life or coursework — if it’s connected to your institution, it qualifies. At a K–12 school, the show’s faculty advisor or another staff member applies and holds the account for a student-run show.
Faculty Research communication, course supplements, public outreach affiliated with a department or institution. The show should be produced in your institutional role, not as an independent personal project.
Staff Communications, HR, alumni relations, library, or any other institutional department using podcasting as a medium for their work.
Not included: A professor’s personal podcast on a topic unrelated to their university role. A podcast by alumni with no current enrollment or employment. A for-profit production that happens to have a student among the team. Shows from coding bootcamps, online course platforms or homeschool co-ops.
When in doubt: If the show would appear on your institution’s website or be produced under the institution’s name or logo, it qualifies.
Full Growth Plan. No Charge.
The Growth plan covers up to 250 paying subscribers and 2,500 total tokens — the tier where most campus and community shows will live comfortably for a long time. What’s included:
- Private subscriber feeds — unique token-based RSS URLs per subscriber, compatible with every podcast app
- Subscription plugin bridges — MemberPress, WooCommerce Subscriptions, Paid Memberships Pro, Restrict Content Pro — or Benecaster’s built-in membership system
- Per-tier episode scheduling and availability date controls
- Subscriber management dashboard with tier breakdown and feed access history
- Token reset (admin and subscriber self-service)
- Subscriber account page with RSS URL, QR code, and one-tap deep links to podcast apps
- Full data export — your subscribers and their data are always yours to take with you
If Growth isn’t enough: Institutions with larger audiences or multiple shows can apply for Starter, Pro, Multi-Show, or Studio at 20% off the published price. Select the plan you need on the application form — if approved, we’ll email you a one-use coupon code, valid for 14 days. Use the same email address at checkout that you applied with.
Apply, Verify, Get Started.
Step 1 — Submit the form below Tell us about your institution and your podcast. Upload a document on official school letterhead confirming the show’s name and its connection to the institution. If your institution issues .edu email addresses, use that address on your application.
Step 2 — Confirm your email, then we verify Every application — .edu addresses included — gets a confirmation email first. Click the link, then press Confirm my email on the page that opens to confirm the address is yours. If you uploaded a letterhead document, that approves you immediately. If you didn’t, your application moves to manual review, and we’ll be in touch within 2–3 business days.
Step 3 — You’re in Approved for Growth? Your plan is active right away — no further click needed. If you’re new to Benecaster, a second email arrives alongside your approval to set your Benecaster password; set it, then install Benecaster on your WordPress site and sign in when prompted to connect automatically. Already have a Benecaster account? Just install and sign in — nothing else to do. Already on the free Launch plan? Your existing plan becomes your academic Growth plan in place — same account, same connected sites, nothing to reinstall. For higher plans, you’ll receive a 20% off coupon code instead — use it at checkout with the same email address you applied with.
The program renews annually. About a month before each anniversary of your approval, we’ll email you to confirm you’re still affiliated: click the link, then press Confirm my renewal. That’s it.
Academic Program Application
Fill out the form below. If your institution issues .edu email addresses, use that address here. Every application gets a confirmation email — click the link and press Confirm my email on the page that opens. If you uploaded a letterhead document, most applications are decided within minutes of confirming. Without one, we review by hand within 2–3 business days.
Form success banner (shown after submission; ratified as shipped):
Application received. Check your email, click the link, and press Confirm my email on the page that opens. If you uploaded a letterhead, you’re approved as soon as you confirm; otherwise we’ll review your application within 2–3 business days.
With AI verification on, the letterhead sentence reads instead:
If you uploaded a letterhead, we review it as soon as you confirm, and most applications are decided within a few minutes; otherwise we’ll review your application within 2–3 business days.
FAQs
Who qualifies for the Benecaster Academic Program?
The Benecaster Academic Program is open to current students, faculty, and staff at eligible educational institutions who are producing podcasts in an institutional context. That means the show is connected to your campus, department, coursework, or role — not a personal project that happens to be made by someone who works at a school or university.
Eligible institutions are:
- Colleges and universities that grant degrees and are accredited, or, outside the US, recognized by their national education ministry.
- K–12 schools: public schools, and private or parochial schools recognized, registered or approved by their state or national education authority. Accreditation isn’t required.
Coding bootcamps, online course platforms and homeschool co-ops aren’t eligible.
At a K–12 school, the account is held by an adult: the show’s faculty advisor or another staff member applies and runs the account, including for a student-run show. Students under 18 can’t apply or hold an account themselves.
Eligible shows include: student-run campus podcasts, department and research communications, faculty-produced content affiliated with the institution, and staff productions for institutional departments. Alumni with no current enrollment or employment are not eligible. Personal podcasts by educators unrelated to their university role are not eligible.
What counts as an 'institutional podcast'?
An institutional podcast is one produced at or for your institution — a show that would appear on your institution’s website, be produced under the institution’s name or logo, or be recognized as an official or affiliated student activity.
That includes student clubs and campus radio shows, journalism and media school productions, research communication podcasts, department public outreach shows, and student union productions. If you’d describe the show as your university’s podcast (or your department’s podcast, or your student newspaper’s podcast), it qualifies.
A professor’s independent podcast on a topic outside their institutional role — one they produce on personal time with no institutional affiliation — does not qualify, even if they’re a faculty member.
What if I don't have a .edu email address?
Many institutions outside the United States — and some within it — don’t issue .edu addresses. That includes nearly every K–12 school. That’s fine — a .edu address isn’t required. Submit your application with a letterhead document and any additional materials that clearly establish your institutional affiliation. If your institution may be unfamiliar to us, include something that shows it’s an eligible school or university, such as its accreditation or its registration with your state or national education authority.
Every application, .edu or not, goes through the same first step: we send a confirmation email to the address you provided, and you’ll need to click the link in that email, then press Confirm my email on the page that opens, to confirm it’s yours. After you verify:
- With a letterhead document included — we start reviewing it as soon as you confirm, and most applications are decided within a few minutes. If yours needs a closer look, a member of our team reviews it by hand, which can take a few business days.
- Without a letterhead document — your application moves to manual review. We aim to respond within a few days.
What should my letterhead document show?
The document needs to be on official institution letterhead — with the institution’s name, logo, or official header — and it should name the podcast and confirm its connection to the institution.
A generic department letterhead without any mention of the podcast isn’t sufficient. What we’re looking for is something that clearly shows the show is institutionally connected: a letter from a faculty advisor confirming a student show, a department head confirming an official departmental production, a student organization registration document, or similar.
It doesn’t need to be formal — a one-line confirmation on letterhead is fine. We just need to see that the institution knows the podcast exists and considers it affiliated.
How long does approval take?
Every application, .edu addresses included, goes through the same first step: we send a confirmation email to the address you provided, and you’ll need to click the link in that email, then press Confirm my email on the page that opens, to confirm it’s yours. After you verify:
- With a letterhead document included — we start reviewing it as soon as you confirm, and most applications are decided within a few minutes. If yours needs a closer look, a member of our team reviews it by hand, which can take a few business days.
- Without a letterhead document — your application moves to manual review. We aim to respond within a few days.
What plan should I apply for?
Apply for Growth. It’s free under the academic program and covers up to 250 paying subscribers and 2,500 total tokens — more than enough for most campus and community shows. If you’re not sure how large your audience will be, start here. You can apply for an upgrade later if you need it.
If you’re running a larger production or multiple shows that genuinely outgrow Growth, Pro, Multi-Show, and Studio are available at 20% off. Apply for the plan you need — if approved, you’ll receive a coupon code to use at checkout for the discounted price.
If you’re not sure which plan fits, the pricing page has the full subscriber count and feature breakdown.
How does the 20% discount work for plans above Growth?
When your application is approved for a paid plan, we email you a coupon code for 20% off the standard published price. The code can be redeemed once, by you, and is valid for 14 days from the date of your approval email.
The 20% is not a one-off — it keeps applying for as long as you’re in the program. Redeem the code once and every invoice after that is discounted too, at the same 20%. It is the code that is single-use, not the discount.
Starting fresh on a paid plan: Go to the pricing page and click through to checkout for the plan you were approved for. Apply the coupon code at checkout and use the same email address you applied with — the discount won’t link to your academic account otherwise. Your license is provisioned automatically at the discounted price.
Upgrading from a free academic Growth plan: Email support@benecaster.com and ask for an upgrade to the plan you need. We’ll issue you a coupon code for 20% off. Buying with it upgrades your existing account in place — your sites stay connected and your renewal date doesn’t change.
Upgrading from a paid academic plan (Starter, Pro, Multi-Show): Go to your account dashboard, navigate to your license and plan, and click Upgrade — no coupon needed. Your 20% academic discount carries over to the new plan automatically.
Your renewals stay discounted. There is no new coupon to request each year and nothing to re-apply at renewal time — the discount stays on the subscription. What does continue is the programme’s own annual reverification: the discount lasts for as long as you remain eligible, so keeping your academic status current is what keeps it. See How does annual renewal work?.
If your coupon expires before you use it, email us and we’ll issue a new one.
How does annual renewal work?
Academic licenses are reviewed annually, and the reminder is automatic. About 30 days before your one-year anniversary, we’ll email you asking you to confirm that your institutional affiliation is still active. Click the link in that email, then press Confirm my renewal on the page that opens — that’s all that’s needed.
The reminder goes to the email address on your benecaster.com account, the one you sign in with. If that address is about to stop working — common after graduation — change it yourself before your renewal date: sign in to My Account, open the Your account tab and use Change your email address under Your details. The reminder then reaches your new inbox. If you can’t sign in or the change doesn’t go through, email support@benecaster.com and we’ll move it for you.
Nothing changes the moment the reminder arrives: the link in it works for 45 days. Ongoing access does require continued affiliation, though. See Staying Verified for what happens if the link runs out. If you graduate, leave the institution, or the podcast moves outside an institutional context, the right thing to do is let us know — you can transition to a paid plan at the standard rate.
Benecaster also reserves the right to request re-verification at any time. Misrepresentation of eligibility results in immediate license revocation.
Can I use Benecaster while my application is being reviewed?
Not quite — access starts once your application is approved, not when you submit. First, confirm your email: click the link we send you, then press Confirm my email on the page that opens (every application needs this, .edu addresses included). From there, if you included a valid letterhead document, review is automated and usually quick — most clear within minutes, though a small number need a closer look from our team and can take a few business days. Your Growth plan is active as soon as it’s approved — no card required, and nothing further to click. If you’re new to Benecaster, a second email arrives with your approval so you can set your Benecaster password before connecting your site.
If you want to get set up in the meantime, the Launch plan is available for free, with no application to fill in. It covers up to 10 paying subscribers and costs nothing — it asks for a card on file, but nothing is charged to it. Signing up for Launch first doesn’t cost you anything if your academic application is later approved: your existing Launch plan becomes your academic Growth plan in place, on the same account, with your connected sites and subscribers exactly as they were. There’s no new account to set up and nothing to migrate.
If you didn’t include a letterhead document, review is manual and takes a few days.
Does the academic discount apply to add-ons?
The Academic Program covers the Benecaster plan only — the 20% discount applies to Starter, Pro, Multi-Show, or Studio (the Growth plan is free outright). Individual add-ons are not discounted.
Add-ons are separately available at their standard prices to any Benecaster account, including academic ones. If your institution needs the full add-on stack, the All Add-ons Bundle ($549/year) or Studio tier (which includes all podcaster add-ons) are the most cost-effective paths — with Studio at 20% off for qualifying institutions.
What happens if our podcast grows into a commercial production?
Great problem to have. If your show moves beyond an institutional context — graduates into a full commercial production, starts generating sponsorship revenue as an independent show, or otherwise stops being an institutional podcast — the right move is to transition to a paid plan at the standard rate.
Email us and we’ll walk you through the transition. Your existing license, subscribers, and data carry over — it’s just a billing change. There’s no migration required.
Can multiple people at the same institution each apply?
Yes, for different shows. Each application is for a specific podcast — if your institution has three separate podcasts produced by different teams, each team can apply individually. One license per show, each on its own academic plan.
If one person or team is producing multiple shows under a single Benecaster account, apply for the Multi-Show plan rather than applying separately for each show.
What if my email address has changed since I applied?
Email us at support@benecaster.com with “Academic Program” in the subject line. We’ll update the address on your application so your annual renewal reminder and any other program communications reach you at the right address.
If your institutional email has been deactivated — common after graduation — it’s worth getting this updated before your renewal date. The reminder is sent to the address on your original application, so if that address no longer works, you won’t receive it.
I'm already a Benecaster customer. Can I still apply?
Yes. Being a current customer never disqualifies you — apply with the same email address your account uses.
If you’re on the free Launch plan, approval for Growth moves your existing Launch plan to academic Growth in place: same account, same connected sites, nothing to reinstall or reconnect. If you’re already on a paid plan and apply for a higher tier, approval sends you the usual 20% discount code to use at your next renewal.
The one case that’s turned away as a duplicate is holding an active plan other than Launch — Growth, Starter, Pro, Multi-Show, or Studio — no matter which plan the new application is for. Launch is the only existing plan that doesn’t count against you, because it’s exactly what the program is designed to move you off of.
Questions Not Covered Above?
Email us at support@benecaster.com with “Academic program” in the subject line. We read everything.