ChatGPT for Teachers, ChatGPT Edu and Nexus

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The short version

ChatGPT for Teachers is for verified US K-12 educators, not students. ChatGPT Edu is sold mainly to universities. Neither gives a high school an approved AI for its students. Teachers can keep using ChatGPT for Teachers while students use Nexus, under each class's rules.

What OpenAI offers schools

ChatGPT for Teachers is free for verified US K-12 educators. OpenAI's pages disagree on the end date: its pricing FAQ, read Oct 18, 2026, says through June 2027, and a help page says June 2028. It is not available to students. On Aug 26, 2026, OpenAI reported more than 100 K-12 organizations in 30 states and more than 300,000 educators and staff, and offered a 16-state data privacy agreement.

ChatGPT Edu serves mainly universities, where some admins can require study mode.

ChatGPT for Teens is OpenAI's consumer app for users 13 to 17. Schools have no role in it. See ChatGPT for schools for what that means for students.

Why the student side needs its own answer

Most teens already use AI for schoolwork: 54% of US teens have used AI chatbots for schoolwork (Pew Research Center, Feb 2026). A teacher-only product does nothing about that. Students who are not offered an approved AI keep using consumer apps, where class rules do not apply and teachers see nothing.

There is also a provider rule to plan around. OpenAI's API agreement bars letting minors use its services without a parent's or guardian's consent. Any school product that offers OpenAI models to students under 18 has to collect that consent.

When teachers paste student work into a teacher AI

Teacher tools invite a quiet privacy question: what happens when a teacher pastes a student's essay into one? Check the agreement first. OpenAI offered a 16-state data privacy agreement with ChatGPT for Teachers in August 2026, and Anthropic's K-12 terms for Claude for Teachers cover school employees and bar training on customer content.

Where FERPA applies, a vendor that receives student records must work as a school official under the school's direct control and use the records only for the purposes they were shared for. Until your agreement covers it, ask teachers to remove names and other identifiers before pasting student work into any AI tool. Our FERPA and COPPA basics explain the rules.

Using both

A school can give teachers ChatGPT for Teachers for planning and give students Nexus for help on their own assignments. Teachers then set each class's learning mode in Nexus (Hints, Guided, or Full answer with critique), and students cannot change it. Read teacher AI vs student AI.