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.

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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.”

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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 link: 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.

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Step 3 — Click to Verify

When you click the verification link, one of two things happens depending on whether you included a letterhead document with your application:

If you included a letterhead document

Your application is approved automatically. You’ll land on a page that says:

“Application approved. Check your email for your license details.”

A separate email (from notifications@benecaster.com) will arrive momentarily with your license or coupon code, depending on the plan you applied for.

If you did not include a letterhead document

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

“Email verified — we’ll review your application and be in touch shortly.”

We aim to respond within a few 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.

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Staying Verified: Annual Reverification

Academic Program membership is confirmed once a year. Each year, we send a renewal email to the institutional address on file with the subject line “Confirm your academic status — Benecaster,” containing a single link: Confirm my academic status →. Clicking it is the whole process — there’s nothing to fill out.

If you don’t click it right away, nothing happens to your account. Your license stays active, your shows keep publishing, and your subscribers keep their feeds. You have 30 days from the renewal email to confirm before anything changes, and we send reminder emails at 10, 20, and 29 days in if you haven’t clicked yet.

What happens if the 30 days run out depends on your plan:

• Free Growth licenses move 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) simply lose the 20% academic discount. Your plan, features, and access don’t change at all — future renewals just charge the standard price.

Two ways to avoid either outcome, both from the reminder email:

1. Confirm your academic status — click the link in the reminder email to reconfirm and keep your current plan and discount exactly as they are.
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.

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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.

The link says “already used.”
Your email was already verified on a prior click. If your application is still marked pending and you haven’t heard from us, contact support@benecaster.com.

The link says “expired.”
Verification links are valid for 7 days. 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 click the verification link, what happens next depends on whether you included a letterhead document, as described in Step 3.