APPLE CARE - Edu Discount

Don't quote me on this, but I don't think you'll get a discount on Apple Care once she's done. Buying Apple Care later on will be considered a completely separate purchase. They won't care if your Mac was purchased with an EDU discount, if the EDU discount is not applicable at the time of your Apple Care purchase, no discount. At least as far as I know, I may be wrong. You may want to jump on it while you can still get the discount, I know here in the U.S. the discount on Apple Care is a nice chunk of money, not sure about Australia though.

Assuming Apple actually checks to see if you're a student, they're going to check the status when you place your order.

So if you're wanting to place two orders, one for AppleCare and one for the Mac, it doesn't matter if you order them within 1 minute, 1 day, or 1 year, you have to qualify for the discount when you place the order.

Ideally you should get it before she finishes her course. I've found that eBay has them for pretty good prices too, you may wanna check there if nothing else.

On a side note, I just flashed my college ID (yes i'm still in college lol) and they didn't skip a beat when I got my Macbook. Just said thanks, entered the school, and kept ringing me up.

They entered my name and school into the system when I purchased AppleCare at the Apple store...but otherwise I don't think they really check enrollment.

technically you're not allowed to get the education discount after you're through with your education. as others have posted, though, it is possible to get the discount beyond your (or your sister's) graduation.

my advice: get the AppleCare when you buy the computer. that way you don't have to worry about it later. if you can't afford it when you get the computer, get it before she graduates. if you still can't afford it then, you're no longer eligible and will have to pay the full retail price unless you can find a deal elsewhere. not to get into a whole debate over morals and ethics here, but flashing your ID after you've graduated seems inappropriate in both regards.

there are other places/ways to get a discount on AppleCare. some are even better deals than the education discount provides.