I just forward my Uni emails to my private account and was able to use Unidays even years later. Guess the university never bothered to deactivate my account after graduation
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Apple's US Education Store Now Requires Institution Verification to Buy Discounted Products
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Exactly.
The price difference was never huge here in Canada.
Phones, etc. were the same price as regular customers. It was only iMacs, laptops,etc. that were meagerly discounted.
You got it right in the last statement. These types of discounts don’t exist to help the customers, they exist to attract them as future adult customers. Many software companies used to do this years ago when people actually paid large sums for software packages, and some still do but of course now they’re either subscriptions or not as expensive as back then.
My guess is Apple has seen far too much in sales from the Academic Store and decided to tighten up to generate more profit and make margins higher. They've always required proof of status for military discounts and you can't get them directly in store, you have to order and arrange pickup. Whenever I've used the educational discount I've never been asked for proof, even though I do qualify for it since my wife is a teacher and for a while was associated with a local university.
It would appear that K-12 is now excluded unless you are a homeschooler.
It would appear that K-12 is now excluded unless you are a homeschooler.
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True, though you can't get BTO through those groups. Though that only impacts a very small percentage of buyers. Yes, people nerdy enough to go on a Mac site and talk about Macs have a far higher percentage of BTO buyers but Apple generally sells less than 5% of product as BTO. The vast majority of buyers take the base model.
I'm interested to see how this works too. We used edu discounts last year when we pulled our kids and started homeschooling. I actually called Apple to talk to a store specialist to make sure I was permitted to use the discounts. We're set for another few years with their current MacBook Airs, but something to keep an eye on. Homeschoolers generally get the short end of the stick, and it's unfortunate.
I recently bought a mbpro form the edu store, I am both a teacher at a community college and am working on my masters degree. I did not have to prove anything when I bought it. I only used the edu pricing to get the purchase closer to what the price should be as Apple charges about 30% more than they should for their products. I’ll eagerly await the comments from my detractors.
To get the military/vet discount, you have to verify with ID.me. ID.me suspended my account due to "suspicious activity" (either using Private Relay or that in combination with resetting a password I have not used in over a year). After several days, ID.me support finally gets back to me that they are leaving the suspension in place with no other details. My attempts to any information to verify my identity or delete my old account to create a new one have met with silence.
tl;dr - hope they don't have to go through ID.me because they are absolutely horrid and terrible to vets.
tl;dr - hope they don't have to go through ID.me because they are absolutely horrid and terrible to vets.
Good point, Texas Gov. Greg Abbot. I'm sure all of the homeschooled kids will have no problem getting their "Mom and Dad High School" recognized by some 3rd-party website.
Even when this is works, Apple is asking minors to give up personal information like their school email? Brave.
I homeschooled my three kids at the beginning of the pandemic and bought 3 iPads for them for schoolwork and Zoom. I used the discount because I had to unenroll them from school and I became their sole educator, so I had no problem using the discount and never once felt I was cheating the system. There should be a way to give homeschooling parents a chance to prove they homeschool. Maybe a letter from the school district?.
I was surprised they didn't check. It always seemed odd since anyone who knew about this was using that easy discount for years.
One question though. They say parents buying products for their children attending university are eligible. How can I get verified for that as I do not have a Unidays account?
One question though. They say parents buying products for their children attending university are eligible. How can I get verified for that as I do not have a Unidays account?
Those snitches get stitches.
want to be cool and popular by sharing "Their own way to cheat the system" from other peoples hacks and get all the adoration while being party poopers.
Back when I was in university, Apple's educational 'discounts' were $100.00. It seemed an insult. I could walk off campus and get what I wanted quicker than saving the hundred bucks and having to wait for it at the campus computer store. Other vendor discounts were near giveaways. Office for something like $30. FULL OFFICE. Statistical packages for pennies on the dollar. The discounts on some things were so good, I bought some stuff just to play with. Lightspeed C for $40, etc... When the wife needed a new MBP, we checked Apple ed discounts, and they were just as stingy, so we bought at the Apple Store. Many people that could qualify for that pittance likely do the same, which makes the discount that much more ridiculous. *shrug* Go ahead and require verification. They probably should have done that years ago, but now that people have to PROVE they are what they claim, how about making the discount more of a discount?
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Both my undergrad and my grad institutions provide perpetual forwarding of my old university email address. It is stated as being a "perk" for alumni. Perhaps yours is similar.
FWIW in the past I've been able to order BTO through my old college bookstore as an alumni. I was fully up front as to my status. I chose that route because or some reason AppleCare+ was cheaper there than through the Apple EDU store. Downside is there's no ability to return an opened computer. Worth exploring if you have a future need.
Fair enough, I just thought you were a dude playing the dude, disguised as another dude!
Oddly enough, many of my fellow MBA students were engineers.
Yea, Apple used to offer decent discounts wy back in the early days, but now they are pretty slight. The one thing that makes them worthwhile is getting the giveaway during back to school.
My guess this new program is designed to shore up margins and revenue, given anyone could ask for and get the discount, with no proof. I once asked if the needed my wife's ID and that said, Nah...
A lot are doing that. My grad school does it, and my undergrad is rolling it out for those of us who graduated back in the pre-email days and way before eternal September.
A verification check is fine but it is Stupid how Apple is ferrying you into some random company’s service. You must sign up for UNiDAYS to even see the discounts which means trusting some entity one is unlikely to remember they’ve even given trust to, accepting another third party TOS and Privacy Policy, and dealing with them trying to push their services/sales/ads. Mind you, they do this under the guise of ensuring that they’re “keeping check of your eligibility to purchase”, but bs it could be a one time thing at the current moment. The excuse from their TOS:
And their PP follows the dubious vague language found in Most — you bet they ensure the use of the data they collection / find / curate from other services can be utilized at your expense, shared, and/or even sold without your permission or notice. Here are just a few snippets that are open ended…
Sad to see Apple contradicting themselves and their privacy stance by forcing you into another company’s hoops, using the advantage to the consumer (a very weak discount in this case) as an excuse.
And their PP follows the dubious vague language found in Most — you bet they ensure the use of the data they collection / find / curate from other services can be utilized at your expense, shared, and/or even sold without your permission or notice. Here are just a few snippets that are open ended…
Sad to see Apple contradicting themselves and their privacy stance by forcing you into another company’s hoops, using the advantage to the consumer (a very weak discount in this case) as an excuse.
I'm curious how much this will help. My college gave me a lifetime .edu email address, and I've been out of school for quite some time. I actually just signed up for UNiDAYS a couple months ago to see if it would work, and it did... Have not used it yet though since most things seemed to be geared for college kids.
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
What happens if you show your student ID at the Apple store? Do you still have to go through UNiDAYS.
My guess is they just want to eliminate the casual purchaser who asks for it but isn't really eligible. The use a 3rd party in the US for their military discount as well and you can't buy in store with it. You can, however, walk into a store, use their Mac to order online, and do some day pickup.
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