My day job is working on Fog Creek Copilot, a powerful, cross-platform remote assistance solution. This week, Tyler and I were talking about how it’s too bad that Copilot didn’t really exist when we were in college, because we always ended up doing tech support for our families over the phone, which always went something like:

Me: What do you see now?

Family Member: A dialog box.

Me: What’s it say?

Family Member: It’s got a stop sign with an exclamation mark and says that the server can’t be found.

Me: Okay, click “Okay,” then read me back the line that says “SMTP Server.”

Family Member: Wait, I just clicked “Okay” twice. Now what do you want me to do again?

And so on. Not fun.

The good news is that Copilot exists now, and makes doing remote tech support really easy. Unfortunately, college students are basically perpetually broke. Tyler and I remember what that’s like. It sucks. You just got to school. There are eighty bajillion things going on and at least ten girls or guys that have caught your eye and (if you’re very lucky) your pants. Having to pick between wasting an hour helping someone, or using valuable booze money just so you only need five minutes, can be a painful choice.

Well, we’ve got a proposal: for the month of September, we’ll let anyone with a .edu address use Copilot for free, up to three times. These aren’t two-minute trials; they’re real, legit, 24-hour day passes. Plus, if that’s not enough, we’ve got a referral program: if you refer a friend with a .edu address to use Copilot, you get another three day passes. Ad nauseam. No limit. No catch.

So if you’re in college, the next time someone asks you for help, grab a free Fog Creek Copilot day pass. Then spend your leftover time grabbing a beer. Best of both worlds.