I just completed the UniDays verification earlier this week. It wasn't difficult but an annoyance to go through a 3rd party verification that will probably spam me for the rest of my life.
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Apple Walks Back UNiDAYS Verification Requirement for U.S. Education Store
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I buy MacBooks for my college age kids. I just use Apple Pay on my credit card. They never ask for student ID or email. I suspect I am not alone. Maybe, Apple figured out that parents buy most college computers, and it just creates an unnecessary hassle to require verification. IDK.
Honestly Apple products (except maybeee the new Macbook Pros) are overpriced by way more than 10% so hey cheat the system fellas.
What is UNiDAYS exactly? There's a ton of sites piggybacking off this name to draw in people, including a site called myunidays.com that has nothing to do with identity verification. Any clarification on what UNiDAYS is exactly?
THIS!
This is what happens when a corporation implements something that is in partnership with a 3rd party solution and has NOT fully tested ALL scenarious and has NO FIX when things go wrong, NO documentation/KB articles for staff to quickly resolve, and screws things up in production without a TRIAL phase.
Uggg. I feel your pain man.
Subjective. Expensive, yes, but top-class products packed with tons of value and years of support. Total Cost of Ownership.
not an approved list of email addresses (this would exponentially keep changing and require too many requests to update. I think you mean a valid university/college domain mailbox.
The issue even with this is when you've graduated or left the campus and curriculum the mailbox can still remain active. I highly doubt there is anything in place - like a corporation does - to nullify the no longer needed mailbox. Further to this what about alumni's for returning events etc? Hmm.
Oh trust me there has been a LOT of people using this loop-hole to save a few hundred dollars - and honestly it's helped Apple gain some sales during this entire time which otherwise may have led potential sales go to the competition.
This is strickly bean counting to recover any lost revenues - but it was poorly implemented.
I bought a Mac at apple education store for my son. He was an e-Learner in 7th grade. They did not ask for any proof. I basically got $100 off and a free Beats Studio 3 Headphones. This was back in 2019.
Because teachers don’t just work at universities. Because some kids use computers before college. Because some people are homeschooled. Because education isn’t just college.
I actually think requiring a university email would be the worst way to verify. Sure all those with an email CAN be a student but not all students/teachers belong to a University.
I’ve been to 4 colleges, all gave me .edu. On all Unidays tells me I have no active classes and to send in a schedule for manual review. Worked perfectly when I was actively enrolled, but they are definitely checking more than the end of the email nowadays.
Source: I may have wanted to keep my cheap music subscription…..
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They used to ask for verification, long long ago. Not sure when they stopped.
Nope…never have been. You did have to agree online that you were eligible, but other than checking a box to agree and clicking through, there was no actual verification beyond that. I always wonder why that was (you do need an Id to get the discount in store).
Because students aren’t just in university. High school students, for example, wouldn’t have that and should be eligible (although maybe some high schools give out email addresses now?).
Basically, yes.
Not really. There’s no reason you couldn’t send an email to the address, then requiring the user to confirm via a verification link. Not perfect, but it’s something. This is required to sign up for many listserves, etc.
Depends on the product. I think between 0 and 10%. New iPhones(/iPads, I think) typically don’t get anything. AppleCare, etc. gets about 8%, I think.
In addition, the education discounts are similar to, if not the same as, the discounts some companies have for employees as part of benefits through portals such as Perkspot and YouDecide. These can get you to the EPP store for Apple to get this pricing online, or you can mention at the store and show proof of eligible employee. To get this discount online, you typically need verification as you need to login through your eligible employee discount portal first, though that has its issues too. I sort of accidentally realized that years after I was an employee with access through one of these portals, they apparently never updated the list to take into account employees who moved on, and still have access.
Yes. My daughter just bought an iPad for school. The on-campus book store has them at EDU pricing and all you need is a credit card or cash. But the discount is really minimal and sometimes Amazon or Best Buy beats the EDU price.
I can get a student email address without being a student. They give out the address as part of the application process. It is even easier to become a community college student who happens not to be taking any classes. I register for free then simply do not take a class. I've never done this to be dishonest but even at 60+ years old I do sometimes take a music class. About 10 years go I whent back to grad school and I think I still have an .EDU email from them. Email is a poor form of verification.
Even a digital photo of an ID card is not good -- Photoshop and change photos.
I have two kids in university here in Canada and the educational discount is a few percent max.
Earlier this week, Apple began requiring that customers taking advantage of educational discounts in the United States verify their status as a teacher, student, or school staff member through UNiDAYS.
The requirement was a major change as Apple had never asked customers to go through a verification process in the United States before, and now, just three days after verification was added, Apple has removed it.
As of today, discounted iPads, Macs, and other products can be purchased from Apple's education website in the U.S., and Apple is not asking for any proof that a customer is a student or teacher.
After the UNiDAYS requirement rolled out, there were complaints from some MacRumors readers that suggested the UNiDAYS site was broken for staff member verification, as it was asking customers to upload a student ID with an expiration date. Staff members were prevented from obtaining discounted products, which could be why Apple has nixed the requirement.
It is not clear if Apple will reimplement an institution verification process after working out kinks to make it available for students, teachers, and school staff, but for now, there is no requirement to make a discounted purchase.
Apple has long required UNiDAYS verification in countries like the United Kingdom, so it would not be too much of a surprise to see it added again as a requirement in the United States at some point in the future.
Article Link: Apple Walks Back UNiDAYS Verification Requirement for U.S. Education Store
Not a big deal.
this isn't true. i have a .edu email from my alma mater, which is not an alumni address either. unidays did not accept it because it did not "fit the form" of a student email address. this could be because it is a big university though.