US School Students Now Have Free Access to Figma

An increasing number of students are ditching traditional pen and paper in favor of laptops, which they use for various academic tasks such as note-taking and research. In response, companies are developing programs that cater to tech-focused learning, such as Figma, a cloud-based design tool. Figma has recently announced that it is offering free access to all K-12 students in the US, in partnership with Google for Education. The initiative was initially launched in beta last year, with 50 high schools nationwide receiving complimentary access to Figma and FigJam, a collaborative whiteboard.

Although Figma offers a free version, it only gives users three files for each program. Instead, schools can use the company’s most advanced tier, Figma Enterprise, for free (typically $75 per person per month). It includes unlimited files, individual and shared project options, dedicated workspaces, and more advanced design features, among other benefits. Schools need Chromebooks to use the program, but can apply if they have non-Google systems. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 94 percent of schools provided devices such as laptops and tablets to students who needed them in the 2022-2023 school year.

Figma’s fate is somewhat up in the air after Adobe struck a deal to buy the rival in September 2022 for $20 billion in cash and stock. Regulators across the U.S., U.K. and EU are investigating whether the deal violates antitrust policies, and the first hurdle came in February with reports that the U.S. Justice Department was preparing an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal. The UK followed in May when the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced it was opening an investigation into the deal. It was recently reported that European competition authorities plan to launch an investigation into the merger later this year.

As for the free use of Figma for students, the initiative shows promise, with the company sharing positive reviews from teachers participating in the beta program. Teachers can now sign up to bring Figma into their schools in the U.S. — and the company is also taking its Chromebook partnership global, starting with Google Schools in Japan.