Once the current issues are resolved, students can sign up for a free GitHub micro account (5 free private repositories with unlimited collaborators) via https://github.com/edu. You just need a verified, valid-looking email address i.e. joe@stanford.edu, jim@strath.ac.uk, etc.

If you give them a good explanation, or some proof you are at school somewhere, they will be cool with that even without the .edu email. Great guys!

Absolutely, I got one without .edu email.

It's actually a discount. That way you can have a better account for $5 less each month. Although I should probably go turn that off having just graduated.

When I signed up around a year ago it wasn't a discount. It was a free micro account that lasts two years. I'm not sure if that's changed however.

Right. It is. But you can upgrade your account and it acts like a $5 discount (the micro plan is $5...)