License & Subscription Issues

Can Office 365 A1 Education Provide 5 TB of OneDrive Storage?

Olivia MillerOlivia Miller Nov 2, 2026 869 views

Question details

Determine if an Office 365 A1 Education account includes or can be upgraded to 5 TB of OneDrive cloud storage.

Can Office 365 A1 Education Provide 5 TB of OneDrive Storage?
Product
Office 365 Education
Device & OS
not provided
Scenario
A student or educator needs to verify cloud storage limits for their educational account.
Observed behavior
The default OneDrive storage quota typically shows 1 TB, prompting users to find out if the 5 TB maximum capacity is available and how to access it.
Before you start

Check your current OneDrive storage metrics online and confirm with your school that they maintain an active Office 365 A1 subscription for students and faculty.

Solution 1Recommended

Verify Eligibility and Request a Storage Quota Increase

Confirm your tenant meets Microsoft's requirements for 5 TB of storage and ask your IT administrator to adjust the default limit.

Office 365 A1 Education subscriptions offer up to 5 TB of initial OneDrive storage per user, provided the educational institution's tenant has at least five active users.

Although the maximum capacity is 5 TB, Microsoft sets the default user quota to 1 TB. This default limit must be manually increased by a school IT administrator through the Microsoft 365 admin center.

1
Check current storage

Log in to your OneDrive account online, click the gear icon for Settings, and select 'OneDrive settings' > 'More Settings' > 'Storage Metrics' to view your current allocated limit.

2
Contact your IT administrator

Reach out to your school's IT support desk or Microsoft 365 administrator, requesting that they increase your OneDrive storage quota from 1 TB to 5 TB.

3
Update quota (For Administrators)

Admins should log in to the Microsoft 365 admin center, navigate to 'Users' > 'Active users', select the specific user, go to the 'OneDrive' tab, and click 'Edit' under 'Storage used' to set the new maximum quota.

Verify Eligibility and Request a Storage Quota Increase
Service Term Changes: Always review Microsoft's most recent service terms, as educational storage policies, eligibility, and default limits are subject to change by the provider.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my Office 365 A1 account only show 1 TB of storage?

While eligible A1 accounts can access up to 5 TB of storage, Microsoft automatically sets the default limit to 1 TB for new users. Your school's IT administrator must manually increase your specific quota to 5 TB in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

What happens to the storage limit if our school has fewer than five Office 365 users?

According to Microsoft's service descriptions, if the educational subscription has fewer than five active users, the OneDrive storage limit is strictly capped at 1 TB per user and cannot be increased to the 5 TB tier.

Can my OneDrive storage be increased beyond 5 TB?

In certain enterprise or higher-tier education scenarios, if a user fills their 5 TB quota to at least 90% capacity, administrators can submit a ticket to Microsoft support to request additional storage, up to 25 TB. However, this depends heavily on the specific subscription terms.