Resource library

Student resource library

I kept losing track of this stuff, so I put it in one place. No obvious stuff. Only the less obvious, K-State specific, time sensitive, or easy to miss ones.

Last updated: Oct 15, 2026 · Feel free to share · Send corrections if something expired.

Quick rules: Check the official page before adding a card. Most free trials auto-renew. Set a reminder on the day you claim anything. Not affiliated, not sponsored. Use @k-state.edu, not @ksu.edu, when a K-State service asks for your email.

Looking for a starting point? Open Student Opportunities → Answer three questions and get the funding, tools, and help you can actually apply for, sorted by deadline. Nothing to upload. Independent student project.

K-StateFree

Microsoft 365

Word, Excel, Teams, OneDrive. Up to 5 devices while enrolled.

Webmail → App Launcher → Install Microsoft 365 apps → Organizational account.

Open
Free 12 moDeadline Dec 31

Google AI Pro

Gemini + Deep Research. Then $19.99/mo unless you cancel.

SheerID + payment method. Use a personal Google account. Storage: Google's current Google One plans page lists AI Pro at 5 TB. Confirm the student tier matches at checkout, since the student redemption page requires sign-in.

Open
Free 4 moDeadline Oct 31

ChatGPT Plus

4 free months, then $20/mo unless you cancel.

Verified on OpenAI's own help page. Full-time or part-time at eligible US degree-granting institutions, SheerID verification, payment method required. Claim by Oct 31, 2026. Cancelling forfeits remaining free months. Store-billed subscriptions not supported.

Open
Free 1 yr

ElevenReader

Premium text to audio for PDFs and papers.

Gated by institution allowlist. K-State membership unconfirmed. If rejected, use request-access form. Auto-renews.

Open
Free

GitHub Student Pack

Dev tools, cloud credits, domains, learning resources.

Verify with school email. Activate time-limited offers only when ready to use them.

Open
Free

JetBrains

All IDEs free, renew yearly. PyCharm Pro + DataGrip.

Great for Python and SQL in bioinformatics. Apply with school email.

Open
K-StateFree

Beocat HPC

K-State HPC with Slurm, OpenOnDemand, Galaxy.

Free for eligible researchers. Annual renewal. Ends when you leave K-State.

Open
K-StateFree

Cats' Cupboard

Free food + hygiene pantry. No income check.

1+ credit hour. Register each semester with eID, Wildcat ID, and @k-state.edu email.

Open
Free credit

Azure for Students

$100 credit for 12 months. No card. Renewable.

Unused credit does not roll over. Plus always-free services.

Open
Free

DOE JGI User Program

Free sequencing by competitive proposal.

Must fit DOE mission (energy / environment). Data is made public. Check proposal calls.

Open
Free

KBase

Genome annotation, MAGs, metabolic modeling.

DOE platform. Reproducible Narratives, no HPC needed.

Open
Free

BV-BRC

Bacterial / viral comparative genomics.

RAST annotation, phylogeny, AMR. Jobs run on BV-BRC compute.

Open
Free

CyVerse

NSF data store, apps, VMs for life science.

Free account. Request Discovery Environment + Data Store at signup.

Open
Free

Galaxy public servers

No-code reproducible genomics.

QC, mapping, assembly, QIIME. Public queues and quotas apply.

Open
Free

JGI IMG/M

Compare public microbial genomes / metagenomes.

Upload your genomes for annotation. Data becomes public at publication.

Open
Deadline Oct 19

NSF GRFP

$37k/yr + $16k/yr for 3 years. 1st / 2nd year only.

US citizen / national / permanent resident. Life Sciences deadline reported Oct 19, 2026.

Open
Deadline Nov 4

DOE SCGSR

3 to 12 months thesis research at a DOE lab.

Needs PhD candidacy + DOE lab collaborator. Stipend + travel. Due Nov 4, 5pm ET.

Open
Free to apply

NIH F31

Up to 5 years for PhD dissertation stage.

Stipend figures conflict across sources. Check current NIH notice for your institute. 3 cycles per year.

Open
Free

ResearchRabbit

Citation-network discovery from seed papers.

Free full features. Great for finding related work you missed.

Open
Free tier

Consensus

Quick evidence synthesis.

Free tier for searches. Reported student discount on Pro.

Open
Free tier

Groq + OpenRouter free

Fast inference, free models. Quotas change often.

OpenRouter free: 50 req/day baseline. Do not paste unpublished work without checking data-use terms.

Open
Free

BioRender Basic + open libraries

Figures, but Basic has no publication rights.

Use Servier, Bioicons, NIAID, Reactome for publishable figures. Check each icon licence.

Open
K-StateFree

Career Center + Career Closet

Advising, fairs, Handshake, interview clothes.

Free for students. Check Handshake for jobs and internships.

Open
K-StateFree

Powercat Financial

Free peer financial counselling.

Budgeting, loan repayment, credit. Confidential.

Open
K-StateFree

CAPS

Free therapy for students.

Funded in part by student fees. Confirm session limits and waitlist.

Open
K-StateFree

GSC travel funding

Conference travel grants.

Reported up to $750 domestic / $1,000 international. Apply at least 21 days before event.

Open
Free 1 yr

YNAB College

1 full year free. Non-renewable.

Claim on web, not App Store. After year, $109/yr.

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Free

IRS Free File + VITA

Free federal filing and volunteer tax prep.

Free File: AGI up to $89k for guided software. VITA Manhattan 2026 schedule unconfirmed.

Open
Free

Flint Hills Breadbasket

Community food pantry in Manhattan.

Verify current hours and eligibility before going.

Open
Free

Coursera audit + aid

Audit free. Aid can unlock certificate.

Aid review can take around two weeks. Apply after enrolling in audit track.

Open
Free

Carpentries + EMBL-EBI

Free workshops and bioinformatics modules.

Software / Data / HPC Carpentry lessons free online. EMBL-EBI Train Online self-paced.

Open
Bundle

Spotify + Hulu

Pick one bundle, not all three.

$5.99 to $6.99/mo reported. SheerID, re-verify yearly. Do not pay for Hulu separately if you take this.

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Bundle

Apple Music + TV+

$5.99/mo, TV+ included.

Up to 48 months total. UNiDAYS / SheerID verification.

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Free 6 mo

Prime for Young Adults

6 mo free, then $7.49/mo.

Includes Prime Video, Music, Reading, photo storage, Grubhub+ on eligible orders. Auto-renews.

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Free

AWS Student Rewards

Skill Builder Premium 12 mo + badge rewards.

Credits and $100 cert voucher are badge-gated, not instant. Educate itself is training-only.

Open
Free

Figma + Miro + Notion

Education plans for figures and notes.

Figma 1 yr, Miro 2 yr, Notion Plus for 1-member workspace. Re-verify yearly.

Open
K-StateFree

MATLAB, ArcGIS & Qualtrics

Campus-wide site licences through K-State IT.

Sign in with your @k-state.edu portal credentials. Qualtrics is at kstate.qualtrics.com; MATLAB includes all major toolboxes.

Open
K-StateFree

Student Legal Services

Free attorney consults for leases, landlords, and tickets.

Have them review Manhattan apartment leases before you sign. Also offers free notary services for students paying the campus privilege fee.

Open
K-StateFree

aTa Bus Transit

Free fixed-route bus rides across Manhattan and campus.

Just swipe or show your Wildcat ID when boarding fixed routes and K-State Park & Ride shuttles.

Open
K-StateFree

Sunderland Innovation Lab

Equipment loans, VR, 3D printing, and media booths in Hale.

First floor of Hale Library. Free access to specialized hardware; you only pay minimal material costs for 3D prints or large-format jobs.

Open
K-StateFree

Writing Center (Grad Consults)

Feedback on manuscripts, fellowship essays, and chapters.

Up to two 50-minute sessions per week in ECS 122D or online. Request a graduate consultant for thesis or grant drafts.

Open
Free

NSF ACCESS Supercomputing

National HPC + GPU allocations when local queues fill up.

Explore allocations take minimal paperwork and give access to Anvil, Bridges-2, and Jetstream2 cloud VMs.

Open
Free

AlphaFold Server & ColabFold

Structure prediction for proteins, DNA, RNA, and ligands.

AlphaFold 3 web server gives free daily jobs for non-commercial work. Use ColabFold for custom MSAs or batch scripting.

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Free

Benchling for Academics

Cloud plasmid maps, primer design, and sequence alignments.

Sign up with your .edu email for the free academic tier. Much cleaner than juggling expired SnapGene trials.

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Free

Kaggle Notebooks

30 hrs/week of free GPU (T4x2 or P100) with no card required.

More predictable than basic Google Colab disconnects. Includes persistent dataset storage and background batch execution.

Open
Free

Weights & Biases Academic

Free experiment tracking and hyperparameter sweeps for ML.

Apply with your university email to unlock unlimited private projects and team collaboration for research labs.

Open
Free

Tailscale + Termius Pro

Pain-free SSH and SFTP across lab machines and HPC.

Tailscale free personal tier connects up to 100 devices without port forwarding. Get Termius Pro free via the GitHub Student Pack for synced SSH keys.

Open
Free

NotebookLM + Semantic Scholar

Hallucination-resistant literature synthesis and paper feeds.

NotebookLM answers strictly from PDFs you upload (up to 50 sources per notebook). Pair with Semantic Scholar AI research feeds.

Open
Free

Zotero + Linked OneDrive Storage

Bypass Zotero's 300 MB cloud PDF cap for free.

Sync metadata via Zotero for free, and use ZotMoov or Attanger to store the actual PDFs inside your K-State OneDrive folder.

Open
Free to applyMar 15 / Oct 1

Sigma Xi GIAR

Up to $1,000–$5,000 for research supplies or travel.

No US citizenship requirement, international students are eligible. Two cycles per year; higher caps if you or your advisor are Sigma Xi members.

Open
Free to apply

USDA NIFA AFRI Predoctoral

Up to $180k total for ag, food, and microbial genomics PhDs.

Covers stipend, tuition, and research allowance for up to 3 years. Requires PhD candidacy and US citizenship or permanent residency.

Open
Free

Manhattan Public Library + Kanopy

Free indie/Criterion streaming, Libby audiobooks, and tools.

Any Manhattan resident or K-State student can get a card at 629 Poyntz Ave. Unlocks Kanopy streaming and the Library of Things.

Open
K-StateFree

Free on-campus printing

$10 fall/spring, $5 summer. Balances do not carry forward.

At Hale, Sunderland Media Center, Union, Justin, Cardwell, Weigel. Re-confirm current semester on K-State IT printing page.

Open
K-StateFree

IT equipment checkout

Laptops, cameras, lighting, AV, green screen.

Reserve at 785-532-4918 or itcheckout@k-state.edu. Pickup Hale Room 235. Bring eID, WID, K-State ID.

Open
K-StateFree

Read&Write

Text to speech, translation, vocab, scan to PDF.

Free for all K-Staters with eID. No disability documentation required per Access Center page.

Open
K-StateFree

Hale Hub Monitor Stations

Dual monitor stations for laptop users in Hale.

24 on 2nd floor, 6 on 3rd, 6 on 4th. USB-C hub + charging. Useful for long writing sessions.

Open
K-StateFree

UPC free films / events

Weekend films free with K-State ID.

UPC runs 100+ events per year plus game checkout. 2026 film schedule unverified, check UPC calendar before going.

Open
K-StateFree

K-State Emergency Aid

Help for unexpected temporary financial obstacles.

Via Student Financial Assistance. Amount, cap, and timeline not confirmed. Ask SFA, do not assume a figure.

Open
K-StateFree

KSU Foundation emergency funds

Emergency funds for car, medical, or exhausted aid.

Amount and application route not confirmed. Ask SFA or Foundation. Do not quote a figure.

Open
K-StateFree

K-State Open Access routes

KOAPF is closed. Use OA agreements, K-REx, New Prairie Press.

KOAPF permanently closed spring 2025. Ask ope@k-state.edu which publishers and APCs are covered.

Open
K-State

Center for Child Development

Subsidized full-day care, if you are a parent.

Infants 6 weeks to 12 years. Mon-Fri 7am-5:30pm. Most families get at least one subsidy. Fees unverified.

Open
K-StateFree

Non-Traditional & Veteran Services

Referrals for 25+, married, parents, veterans, returning students.

Referrals for admission, scholarships, childcare, housing, tutoring, health insurance. Referral service, not cash aid.

Open
Free

BEI Resources

Free reagents for microbiology. Pay shipping only.

NIAID repository. Registration + MTA required. Research quantities only. Some items need permits.

Open
Free to applyJan 1 / Jul 1

FEMS Research & Training Grants

Up to 5,000 euros for a 1-3 month visit.

PhD student or degree less than 5 years + FEMS Member Society member. European host in a country other than residence.

Open
Free to applyMar 1 / Sep 1

FEMS Meeting Attendance Grants

Up to 750 euros. Presenting author only.

Early career + FEMS Member Society member. FEMS sponsored meetings excluded, apply to the meeting organizer instead.

Open
Free to applyLive: Sep 2 - Dec 15

FEMS MICRO Attendance Grant

Registration waiver for FEMS MICRO Ljubljana 2027.

Early career, first author + presenter. Abstract + grant submissions Sep 2 to Dec 15, 2026, 11:59pm CET. Do not register until grant notification.

Open
Free to applyFeb 1 / Aug 1

FEMS Industry Placement Grants

Up to 3 month industry placement. Amount unverified.

Deadlines conflict across sources: regulations show Feb 1 / Aug 1, older summaries show Jan 1 / Jul 1. Use current regulations PDF. Do not quote 5,000 euros, that is the other FEMS grant.

Open
Free to applySee ASM page

FEMS-ASM Makela-Cassell Award

Up to 4,000 euros + free registration for ASM Microbe.

For 1 FEMS Full Member Society member to attend ASM Microbe in even years. Limited for US students unless they hold FEMS membership.

Open
Free to applyFeb 1

MSA Graduate Student Awards

$500 to $10,000. Climate Change award is $10,000.

Feb 1 deadline, 2026 cycle passed. Diary for Jan 2027. Directly relevant if your work touches fungi or mycobiome.

Open
Free to applyPer conference

GRC Carl Storm Fellowship

Full registration waiver for first time GRC attendees.

Abstract required by the conference deadline. Eligibility rules vary by conference, verify on the specific GRC page.

Open
Free to applySee DAAD

DAAD Doctoral Programmes

1,400 euros per month + insurance + travel + 460 euros per year.

Doctoral programme in Germany, not a short visit grant. Possible rent and family subsidies. Only relevant if considering a German or bi-national PhD.

Open
Free to applyCampus first

Boren Fellowship

Up to $30,000 combined. Requires 1 year federal service after graduation.

US grad student. Language study must be integral. Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, Middle East only. Check K-State campus deadline.

Open
Free to applyNext cycle 2027

Fulbright US Student Program

Full year award for study, research, or teaching abroad.

National deadline Oct 6, 2026 has passed. Campus deadlines are earlier. Planning item for 2027, not claimable now.

Open
Free to applyMar 31 / Jun 30 / Sep 30 / Dec 31

EMBL Theory@EMBL Fellowships

Up to 6 months for theory and modelling visits.

Requires EMBL host agreement. Stipend amount not confirmed for this specific fellowship. Verify on EMBL official pages.

Open
Free to applyWatchlist

NOSTER & Science Microbiome Prize

$25,000 grand prize. PhD degree required at entry.

Current PhD students without the degree are not eligible. File as a post-PhD target. 1,000 word essay, work from last 3 years.

Open
FreeApply at submission

PLOS fee assistance

APC waiver. Apply at submission, not after acceptance.

Fees billed on acceptance. Ability to pay is never a publication criterion. Editors have no access to payment info.

Open
Free

Addgene

Deposit plasmids free. Request at academic prices.

Deposit is free, Addgene sequences and handles MTAs. Request example: plasmid agar stab $94 for academics. Many items academics only.

Open
Free

protocols.io

Unlimited public protocols with DOI. 2 private, 100 MB.

Free Open Research tier. Premium is $318.89 per user per year. K-State Premium not confirmed, check before paying.

Open
Free

Open Science Framework

Projects, preprints with DOI, preregistration.

Free account. Check journal policy before preprinting. K-State SSO unverified.

Open
Free

Lens.org

Scholarly + patent search. API terms conflict.

Free for research and academic use per secondary sources. API free vs paid is conflicting. Verify Lens Terms before building a pipeline.

Open
Free

UGENE

Open source bioinformatics toolkit.

BLAST, MUSCLE, Clustal, HMMER, Bowtie, BWA, Primer3, workflow designer, BAM viewer, phylogenetics. Windows, Linux, macOS.

Open
Free

JASP + jamovi

Free open source stats. Classical + Bayesian.

JASP has APA tables and OSF integration. jamovi has t-tests, ANOVA, regression, factor analysis, R integration. Not for genomics scale data.

Open
30-day trial

GraphPad Prism

30 day trial only. Do not start until a figure deadline is near.

Starting price $252 per year per secondary source. Older $168 figure conflicts. Verify on GraphPad pricing page. Prefer JASP or jamovi for routine stats.

Open
Free tier + trial trap

Scite

Free Connect tier is thin. 7 day trial auto-enrolls.

Free: 25 MCP credits per month, no Assistant or Search. Do not enter payment details unless you intend to pay. Check K-State institutional access first.

Open
Free

Scholarcy

Summarises papers into flashcards.

Extracts participants, methods, findings, limitations. Free version exists, daily limit unverified. Paid $7.99 per user per month per secondary sources.

Open
Free

Hugging Face ZeroGPU

Free GPU for demos. Quota is tiny and conflicting.

Free quota conflicts: 5 vs 3.5 min per day across HF doc versions. Max 2 ZeroGPU Spaces for free accounts, verified email, account over 30 days.

Open
Free

Cerebras + SambaNova + GitHub Models

Free inference tiers. Verify limits on official pages.

Cerebras: secondary claims 1M tokens per day free, conflicts with earlier gone claim. SambaNova: persistent free tier + $5 credit, limits conflict. GitHub Models: free playground with rate limits.

Open
Free

NVIDIA NIM

Free tier. Credit figures conflict.

Secondary claims conflict: 1,000 credits vs 5,000 credits vs rate limit only about 40 RPM. Do not state any single figure as fact. Verify on build.nvidia.com.

Open
$200 credit

Deepgram

$200 free credit, no expiry. About 43,000 min transcription.

Available until you use it up. Nova-3 $0.29 per hour monolingual streaming. For interviews, talks, captions.

Open
$50 credit

AssemblyAI

$50 one time credit at signup, no card.

Older 100 hours free claim is likely stale, use $50. After credits, you need to upgrade.

Open
Free

Prisma Postgres + Convex + Deno + Koyeb

Free tiers for side projects and lab tools.

Prisma: 200,000 ops per month, 50 DBs, no card, no backups. Convex: 0.5 GB storage, 1M calls per month. Deno and Koyeb free tiers exist, limits unverified.

Open
Free

Paperpal + Trinka + Writefull

Free academic writing tiers.

Paperpal free: 200 edits per month, 5 per day paraphrase and Q&A. Trinka Basic: 5,000 words per month. Writefull free tier exists, limits unverified.

Open
Free

Windsurf

Free tier + reported 50 percent student discount.

Free: light daily quota + unlimited Tab completions. Pro $20 per month. Student about $10 per month per secondary sources, verify on windsurf.com. Ownership changed in 2026, do not depend on Windsurf specific features.

Open
Free

Aider + PearAI + Void + Tabby

Free open source coding assistants. BYOK for models.

Aider: terminal pair programmer, edits local git repo, commits each change. PearAI, Void, Tabby: free editors, local model support. Tool free, you pay model provider.

Open
Free

IBM SkillsBuild

1,000+ free courses + badges in AI, data, cloud, cyber.

Free to enrol. Some IBM Professional Certificates may carry $200 to $300 fees per secondary sources, verify before starting a specific certificate.

Open
Free

Cisco NetAcad

Free CCNA pathway + reported 58 percent exam voucher.

Free self paced CCNA pathway + Packet Tracer. Voucher requires 70 percent final, survey, all activities. Exam $300 at Pearson VUE per secondary sources. Verify on netacad.com.

Open
Free

Fortinet NSE 1-2

Foundational cyber courses free. Higher levels paid.

All courses free was a 2020 announcement, do not assume full catalogue is still free. Verify current Fortinet Training Institute pricing.

Open
Free

Neo4j GraphAcademy

Free courses + free certs, free retakes.

All certifications completely free, no fee to register, take, or retake. 60 min exams, 80 percent pass, open book. Maps to pangenome graphs and RAG projects.

Open
Free

Confluent + Databricks

Free streaming and data certs. Verify time limits.

Confluent: 2 free certs, 30 questions, 60 min, online, not proctored. Databricks: 7 free accreditations + Student Fellows vouchers reported, verify on databricks.com.

Open
Free

Open Path Collective

$65 one time + $40 to $70 per session therapy.

40,000+ therapists, online or in person. For people who cannot afford market rates, household income below $100,000 per Open Path directory. Session fees go to therapist.

Open
Free

7 Cups

Free peer support. Not therapy.

Free 24/7 text chat with trained volunteer listeners. Not therapy, not counselling, not a distress line. Paid therapy about $150 per month per secondary sources.

Open

Zenni + Warby Parker

Glasses discounts. Warby student discount not verified.

Zenni: 10 percent student per coupon sites, verify at checkout. Warby: no verified student programme found, conflicting claims. Warby Home Try-On: 5 frames free both ways.

Open

Regal + Cinemark student pricing

Student pricing at box office with student ID.

Amount varies by theatre. Excludes special engagement films at Cinemark. Check local theatre for pricing and participation.

Open

Hostelling International

10 percent off at 4,000 hostels in 91 countries.

Membership price not confirmed. Non-members pay plus $3 per person per day at some US hostels. J1 visitors: 15 percent off with code STAYHI through Dec 31, 2026.

Open
Free

Insight Timer + Healthy Minds + UCLA Mindful + Smiling Mind

Free meditation apps.

Insight Timer: 260,000+ meditations free. Healthy Minds: completely free, science backed. UCLA Mindful: free audios, English and Spanish. Smiling Mind: free nonprofit.

Open
Free

Darebee + Fitness Blender

Free workouts, nonprofit and ad free options.

Darebee: 2,000+ workouts, 50+ programmes, no ads. Fitness Blender: hundreds of free full length videos, free membership to save favourites.

Open
Free

Tubi + Pluto + Plex + PBS

Free ad supported streaming. No account needed for Tubi.

Tubi: 50,000+ titles. Pluto: 250+ live channels. Plex: 50,000+ titles + 600+ live channels free, Plex Pass is for your own media server, not for unlocking movies. PBS: free, some titles need Passport.

Open
30-day trial

MUBI student

30 day trial then $9.99 per month per secondary sources.

Verify on MUBI student page. Trial auto-renews unless cancelled.

Open

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