SAS^® Academic Programs for Students

Explore free learning and certification resources for your data and AI journey with SAS Skill Builder for Students

Access SAS Skill Builder

Why learn SAS?

More Career Opportunities

Last year, 88.9% of job postings for statistical programmers requested SAS skills (Lightcast, 2025).

Higher Salaries

Statistical analysis jobs make $19,000 more when SAS is listed as a skill in the job posting (Lightcast, 2025).

Competitive Edge

Adding a SAS certification to your resume signals expertise and credibility — helping you rise above the competition. In fact, 60% of IT managers are more likely to review a resume with a certification.

Need more reasons?

Hear how SAS users, Natalie Ziemba and Shelly Hunt, discovered SAS as university students, why they enjoy working with data and SAS software, and how having SAS skills and certifications opened doors with employers.

SAS Skill Builder for Students

Access a repository of resources to help you learn SAS, get certified, and land a career.

Log in to SAS Skill Builder for Students to access free online courses, pursue certifications, prep for exams, and find student discounts. Enhance your skills and boost your job market readiness—all in one place, and available 24/7.

What's included:

Students get access to free cloud-based software:

SAS OnDemand for Academics

Quickly launch a browser-based programming environment using SAS Studio.
Learn SAS programming from basic to advanced techniques using coding or point-and-click tasks.
Sharpen your analytical skills in data preparation, descriptive analyses and advanced statistical methods.

SAS^® Viya^®for Learners

Use an integrated suite of interactive visual interfaces for learning data science.
Build proficiency in AI, text analytics and machine learning modeling on a computing environment built to analyze big data.
Access a preconfigured JupyterLab interface for R and Python integration with SAS.

SAS^® Viya^® Workbench for Learners

Effortlessly launch cloud resources featuring 2 cores of dedicated compute and 10 GB of storage, expanding your capacity for problem solving.
Develop AI and machine learning models in your preferred programming language.
Collaborate effortlessly with peers using GitHub integration.

Access free courses to develop your analytics skills, and supplement your learning with tutorials, videos and online communities. Course topics include:

Programming and data management.
Building predictive models.
Manipulating and analyzing data, then creating and designing interactive reports.
Creating machine learning models and deploying them.
Exploring what generative AI is and how it fits into the broader AI landscape.

Once you've learned SAS, authenticate your skills with one of our globally recognized certifications. SAS Skill Builder for Students provides free certification exam prep materials and a discounted exam price.

Add your certifications to your résumé to set yourself apart from your peers, or post your digital badge on social media sites to show off your credentials to peers and potential employers.

You are automatically displayed in the SAS certification and skills directory. Opt in to be contacted by employers and make it easier for them to find your accomplishments and connect with you about opportunities.

Students receive a special price for certification exams: US$75 per exam. You can access the discount after registering for SAS Skill Builder for Students.

This discount is not available in China, Taiwan or India. Please email the country office in China, Taiwan or India to inquire about other discounts or promotions that may apply.

If you're interested in other discounts, visit the Academic Discounts page.

How to Log In to SAS Skill Builder for Students

CLICK

To get started, click the link below and you'll be taken to the SAS Profile page.

LOG IN

Log in or create a SAS profile. To validate your access to SAS Skill Builder for Students, your profile must use an email address associated with your academic domain.

REVIEW & ACCESS

Review and accept the license agreement. You will be taken directly into SAS Skill Builder for Students.

Get started

When you have SAS on your résumé and when you have the certification on your resume it shows, yes, this person is trained. Yes, they know what they’re doing. And I feel like that’s a really critical part to getting your foot in the door through the application process and getting a new job. Natalie Ziemba Programmer/Analyst Duke Clinical Research Institute

With skills like yours, you can write your own future.

Man working on laptop in office building

Video

Gain a Competitive Edge with a SAS Certification

Did you know adding a certification can get your resume from the bottom to the top of the pile? Check out this podcast clip to learn more from SAS Certification Manager, Matt Scicchitano.

Watch the video

Communities

FAQ for Students and Other SAS Learners

Whether you’re new or an experienced user, check out the Student Support FAQs Community. You’ll find additional support, resources, news about upcoming events and answers to your questions.

Visit communities.sas.com

Learn

Discover Data and Why it Matters

Using real-world applications, our two free courses introduce foundational data literacy topics and practical skills to help you engage with data in meaningful ways.

Start the course

User Stories

How Did They Land Careers They Love?

Whether these professionals recently got their first jobs or pivoted midcareer, they all reached career goals. Find out how.

Visit the SAS User Stories hub

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Career Connections

Connect Your Skills to Jobs

As you learn SAS, claim your digital badges and opt into the SAS certification and skills directory, where employers can find you and connect about career opportunities.

Use what you learned

Free academic workshops

Critical thinking and curiosity are important skills for landing your dream job. Our awesome workshops are designed to improve your analytical skills.

Peruse the free workshop topics and register today.