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Apple this week launched its annual Back to School promotion for U.S. college students. This year's promotion offers a free Apple gift card with the purchase of an eligible Mac or iPad. Apple is also offering students 20% off AppleCare+ plans.

2022-back-to-school-apple-feature.jpg

Apple is offering a $150 gift card with any new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or iMac, and a $100 gift card with the purchase of any new iPad Pro, iPad Air, or Mac mini. The gift card can be used towards purchases of Apple products and accessories, App Store apps, subscriptions to services like Apple Music, iCloud+ storage, and more.

The promotion runs through Monday, October 2 in the U.S., according to Apple's terms and conditions. The free gift card is in addition to Apple's standard educational discounts of around 5% to 10% off most Macs and iPads.

The offer is available through Apple's online education store and at Apple Store locations for students attending or accepted to a higher-education institution, faculty and staff of higher-education institutions, parents purchasing on behalf of an eligible student, employees of a K-12 institution, and select others.



Article Link: Apple Launches 2023 Back to School Offer for Students: Up to $150 Gift Card With Mac or iPad
 
If it’s the same as last year, then it’s confusing as heck. At least it is for me. I did the Apple Card installments on my Air, and I had to pay for the free gift card in installments. I don’t see how it is a free gift card if you have to pay for it.

Edit: I had to look it up to figure it out again. They take the $150 off the price of the MacBook Air and then charge you $150 for the gift card. I don’t know why they do it that way, but it comes out to you getting a free gift card in a really confusing way.

Maybe this is so if you return the MacBook Air you have to return a gift card too? I’m sure they have a reason to do it this way.
 
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If it’s the same as last year, then it’s confusing as heck. At least it is for me. I did the Apple Card installments on my Air, and I had to pay for the free gift card in installments. I don’t see how it is a free gift card if you have to pay for it.

If you add up both installments, it totals the total price you paid, but you also now have a $150 gift card.
 
I bought a 15 inch Air for my wife.

$100 off for Education discount
$150 gift card
$395 iPad Pro 3rd Gen trade in

Ended up paying $654 for a brand new 15” Air. Solid.
That’s not a bad trade in deal. Usually their trade-in prices suck.

I was looking at how much Apple would give me for my 13” M2 MacBook Air and it was like $750. Only about $1000 less than I paid for it 🤣🤣🤣
 
If it’s the same as last year, then it’s confusing as heck. At least it is for me. I did the Apple Card installments on my Air, and I had to pay for the free gift card in installments. I don’t see how it is a free gift card if you have to pay for it.

Edit: I had to look it up to figure it out again. They take the $150 off the price of the MacBook Air and then charge you $150 for the gift card. I don’t know why they do it that way, but it comes out to you getting a free gift card in a really confusing way.

Maybe this is so if you return the MacBook Air you have to return a gift card too? I’m sure they have a reason to do it this way.
It's so that if you only return the MacBook Air, you'll still be charged for the gift card.
 
I never saw a clear answer to this last year- can the gift card be used towards purchase of AppleCare afterwards?
 
Really surprised to see the Mac Mini qualify for a $100 GC, last year it was nothing and the machine was $150 more educational pricing.
 
It's so that if you only return the MacBook Air, you'll still be charged for the gift card.

Exactly! It is kind of a scam if you end up returning. Last year they refused to refund the gift card and told me to use it for future purchase. As I recall, Apple Care is not eligible.
 
I bought a 15 inch Air for my wife.

$100 off for Education discount
$150 gift card
$395 iPad Pro 3rd Gen trade in

Ended up paying $654 for a brand new 15” Air. Solid.



So you can apply the $150 gift card (obtained by purchasing the Air) to the purchase of the Air?
 
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I never saw a clear answer to this last year- can the gift card be used towards purchase of AppleCare afterwards?
Yes you can! But you have to do it in a store. You bring the device in and you can purchase AppleCare for the device with a gift card. My wife and I did it on our iPhones last year.
 
I never saw a clear answer to this last year- can the gift card be used towards purchase of AppleCare afterwards?

Exactly! It is kind of a scam if you end up returning. Last year they refused to refund the gift card and told me to use it for future purchase. As I recall, Apple Care is not eligible.

From my understanding, it can be used to buy AppleCare, but only at a physical Apple store location, not online.
 
From my understanding, it can be used to buy AppleCare, but only at a physical Apple store location, not online.

Some people at Apple also told me that it could not be used for AppleCare. I guess at usual, they had no idea what they were talking about.
 
If it’s the same as last year, then it’s confusing as heck. At least it is for me. I did the Apple Card installments on my Air, and I had to pay for the free gift card in installments. I don’t see how it is a free gift card if you have to pay for it.

Edit: I had to look it up to figure it out again. They take the $150 off the price of the MacBook Air and then charge you $150 for the gift card. I don’t know why they do it that way, but it comes out to you getting a free gift card in a really confusing way.

Maybe this is so if you return the MacBook Air you have to return a gift card too? I’m sure they have a reason to do it this way.
I think it's because most people that return the Mac already redeemed the gift card on day-1, or at least applied it to their account, so that cannot be returned.

A little confusing, but not as confusing as the carrier deals from Verizon. They give you a 'free' or 'discounted' phone, but they add charges to your monthly phone bill and somehow take it off. I usually purchase direct through Apple, but I bit once on a trade-in deal with Verizon. I swear I could've done better simply purchasing direct and trading it in with Apple. To this day, I feel like I gave them a perfectly good phone for nothing. I even called Verizon and spoke to a few people. None of them could explain the deal to me.
 
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Now we wait for them to offer this deal in Canada, thought they would launch it same day.
 
Does anyone know if refurbished equipment is excluded from this offer? I’d really like to get a 14” MBP from 2021.
 
I’ve been looking to get an M2 Mac Mini using the education discount (My wife homeschools our kids) and have seen that Apple hasn’t been doing the verification process. Are they more likely to do it during this promotion?
 
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