Academic Program — Email Verification

Every application to the Benecaster Academic Program goes through one extra step before it’s reviewed, regardless of whether you applied with a .edu address: confirming that you own the institutional address you provided. This page walks through what to expect at each step.

---

Step 1 — Submit Your Application

After you submit the academic application form, you’ll see an on-screen confirmation:

“Thanks for applying. We’ve sent a verification email to the address you provided — click the link in that email to continue.”

---

Step 2 — Check Your Institutional Email

Within a few minutes, a message from notifications@benecaster.com will arrive at the institutional address you entered. The subject line is: “Verify your email — Benecaster academic program”

The email contains a single button: Verify my email

The link is valid for 7 days. If it expires before you click it, contact support@benecaster.com and we’ll resend it.

---

Step 3 — Confirm Your Email

Clicking Verify my email opens a page on benecaster.com headed Confirm your academic application, with one button: Confirm my email. Press it. Opening the link on its own doesn’t verify anything, because many university mail systems open every link in a message before you see it, and that mustn’t count as you confirming.

Once you press Confirm my email, what happens next depends on whether you included a letterhead document with your application.

If you included a letterhead document

Your letterhead is used to approve your application, and you’ll see one of two pages:

• “Verified. Your academic license is on the way.” Your application is approved. A separate email from notifications@benecaster.com follows with your license or your coupon code, depending on the plan you applied for.
• “Thank you. We’re reviewing your application.” We’re checking your letterhead. Most applications are decided within a few minutes, and the result arrives by email. If yours needs a closer look, a member of our team reviews it, which can take a few business days.

If you did not include a letterhead document

Your email address is confirmed, and your application moves to manual review. You’ll see a page that says:

“Verified. Your application is being reviewed.”

Expect to hear back within a few business days. If you have a letterhead document you’d like to add, reply to the verification email and attach it — we’ll attach it to your application before review.

---

Staying Verified: Annual Reverification

Academic Program membership is confirmed once a year. Each year, about a month before your renewal date, we send a renewal email to the email address on your benecaster.com account — the one you sign in with, which may no longer be the institutional address you applied with — with the subject line “Time to confirm your Benecaster academic license renewal,” containing a single button: Confirm renewal →. Clicking it opens a page headed Confirm your academic status; press Confirm my renewal on that page and you’re done, with nothing to fill out. Opening the link alone doesn’t confirm anything. When it has worked, the page says “Renewal confirmed.”

If you don’t confirm right away, nothing happens to your account yet. Your license stays active, your shows keep publishing, and your subscribers keep their feeds. The link in the renewal email works for 45 days. If it runs out before you confirm, we email you, and what happens next depends on your plan:

• Free Growth licenses get 30 more days to confirm, with reminder emails at 10, 20, and 29 days in. If those 30 days run out, the license moves to the free Launch plan. Your account keeps working — nothing is suspended or cancelled — but you lose the Growth-tier features (unlimited episodes, geographic and platform analytics, and any add-ons that came bundled with the plan). You can upgrade to a paid plan at any time afterward.
• Paid plans (Starter, Pro, Multi-Show, Studio) lose the 20% academic discount at that point. Your plan, features, and access don’t change at all — future renewals just charge the standard price. If you’re still eligible, confirm from the link in that email or reply to it, and we’ll review restoring the discount.

On a free Growth license, two ways to avoid the move to Launch, both from the reminder email:

1. Confirm your academic status — click Confirm my academic status → in the reminder email, then press Confirm my renewal on the page that opens, to reconfirm and keep your current plan exactly as it is.
2. Move to a paid plan — the reminder email also includes a link to move your existing license onto a paid plan. This keeps the license you already have (and your connected shows) rather than creating a new one, so nothing needs reconnecting.

There’s no separate self-service control for this on /my-account/ — the link in the email is the way to act on a reverification notice.

A missed reverification isn’t the only way an academic plan ends. We may also end one directly — for example if a show moves to commercial use, an institution turns out not to be eligible, or the program is being misused. Nothing is interrupted either way: the same 30-day window applies, and you can move to a paid plan in place using the same link described above, keeping your existing license and connected shows. The one difference is that there’s no reconfirmation route back — the renewal reminders won’t include a “Confirm my academic status” link, and an older confirmation link will no longer work. If you have questions about your account’s status, contact support@benecaster.com.

---

Troubleshooting

I didn’t receive the verification email. Check your spam or junk folder. The message comes from notifications@benecaster.com. If it’s not there after 10 minutes, contact support@benecaster.com.

I opened the link but nothing happened. Opening the link only shows the confirmation page. Press Confirm my email (or, for a renewal, Confirm my renewal) on that page to finish.

I opened the link again and didn’t see the button. Your email is already verified, so the page goes straight to where your application stands. If it is still being reviewed and you haven’t heard from us, contact support@benecaster.com.

The page says “This link isn’t valid.” The link has expired or was copied incompletely. Verification links are valid for 7 days. Reply to the email the link came in, or contact support@benecaster.com, to request a new one.

I submitted with a .edu address. Every application is verified by email the same way, whether or not the address ends in .edu — see Step 2 above. Once you confirm your email, what happens next depends on whether you included a letterhead document, as described in Step 3.