Gemini for Education and Nexus

[ SUMMARY ]

The short version

Gemini for Education is free and already in Google schools. It offers one company's models, and Common Sense Media rates Gemini K-12 "High risk." Nexus adds class learning modes students cannot switch off, teacher review of class chats, and models from other providers your school approves. Many Google schools will run both: Gemini for staff and general use, Nexus for students' schoolwork.

What Google schools already have

Gemini for Education is included at no extra cost in Google Workspace for Education. From Aug 10, 2026 on the web and Aug 17 on mobile, the Gemini tab in Google Classroom opened to students of all ages wherever admins had already granted Gemini or Gemini Notebook. Starter prompts now pull in the class, the assignment, its instructions and materials, and students can make flashcards, quizzes and study guides.

It is not on for everyone by default. Since April 2025, Gemini and NotebookLM have been core services for education customers, off by default for new K-12 customers, with existing settings unchanged. Google offers two age settings, under 18 and 18 and over. Howard County, Maryland gave all its high school students Gemini from Jan 27, 2026, after an AI literacy lesson.

What it leaves open

Three gaps come up in school reviews:

• Rules students can leave. Common Sense Media found Gemini's guided mode is easy to leave, and that admins cannot stop personal or mental-health conversations.
• What teachers can see. Google does not describe a teacher view of student Gemini chats. According to Flint's summary of Common Sense Media's findings, teachers cannot read them unless they are Workspace admins, who can search them in Vault afterward.
• One company's models. Gemini for Education runs Google's models only.

Common Sense rated Gemini K-12 "High risk" in its Jan 9, 2026 assessment. In Maryland, Frederick County's board voted 6-1 on Oct 7, 2026 to ban student AI use from pre-K through grade 12, weeks after starting a Gemini pilot.

Why Nexus does not offer Gemini to students

Google's Gemini API terms bar use in services "likely to be accessed by individuals under the age of 18." Nexus is a third-party service used by students under 18, so Google's standard API terms rule Gemini out for those students. Google's own route for teens is Gemini for Education.

A Google school that adds Nexus keeps Gemini for the uses it already has, and gives students models from other approved providers inside Nexus, with each class's learning mode applied.

Running both

Nexus signs students in with their Google accounts. Nexus asks only for OpenID, email and profile, and a person joins your school in Nexus only when an administrator enrolls their exact email address or sends a single-use invitation to it, never because of an email domain. A connection that brings Google Classroom materials into a Nexus class is in progress.

Many schools will keep Gemini on for staff and decide separately what students get. Read how to approve AI for students for a decision process.