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Apple's US Education Store Now Requires Institution Verification to Buy Discounted Products
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when I was in korea teaching at a university it felt like going into the immigration office the amount of paperwork I needed to prove I was indeed a professor currently teaching when going to the apple store in seoul.
There’s more than one kind of Apple education discount. When Universities purchase directly from Apple it’s typically through a completely different channel than the retail website and in those systems you’d need to be an employee to access them. The prices tend to be slightly better as laptops can be bought in 5-packs etc.
Don’t know which country you’re in, but K-12 students were NEVER eligible for discounts. Only teachers, staff and PTA/PTE officers of these schools
This is a nothing burger. Apple's education prices are so often beaten by other retailers and I'm sure Apple knows that and hence didn't care for a long time that people were cheating the system so to speak. Maybe too many people started combining education prices with discounted Apple gift cards to get a real deal and that started to annoy them (though I doubt it). Hopefully this is a sign that education prices are going to get better discounts not just 5-10%...
Maybe during the summer when you get free AirPods the education discount is competitive with say a sale at Best Buy but even then it's often not.
Maybe during the summer when you get free AirPods the education discount is competitive with say a sale at Best Buy but even then it's often not.
I can attest that was never the case online. Apple Store employees would ask for proof of eligibility… I should say “some” employees but often times when they could not offer the discount, they would send the customer to the website to order and pickup 30mn later. Never understood the online “honor system” but at last Apple made it right.
Now, it’s going to be a nightmare for the parents of eligible students, and these PTA officers, the high school seniors who only have a letter of acceptance at college (eligible too), the staff and students at schools that do not have an .edu email system (public and private schools), etc… I don’t know who Unidays is, but I hope they have many support staff to field these issues. I sense frustration mounting… like Apple needs more frustrated customers !!!
K-12 is not eligible on the student level. University students, then then adults who are teachers or staff, regardless of level of institution. But not my high school sophomore daughter.
What challenge did I propose?
I had not read the full article when I replied, but this sounds very much like the terrible ID.me experience.
K-12 were never eligible. The very poor marketing by Apple of the education pricing eligibility as well as the complexity of it made all parents think they were eligible. Not so!
Add to that the complete inconsistency for eligibility from Apple store to Apple store and even from one employee to another - due mostly to poor training of employees on the subject - and you get very confused and unhappy parents.
I never understood why Apple was not extending the edu pricing to EVERY student no matter the grade!
What you're hoping? suggesting? asking? wishing for?
high school edu discount its currently not provided, but you'd like to see it happen correct?
that is a challenge to me to figure out a "hack" around the current system/requirements.
Its not necessarily hard, you just have to think and try a bunch of stuff to see what works, and if it does work, the entire HS student body can benefit.
I'd first-off suggest going to said HS and talk to the "Prince of Pals" (principle) and see what he/she/it/zhe/zher/zit/non-binary/"entity" is able to offer as solutions.
OR Teachers, they always love to help students help themselves.
Us hood rats call them the "Plug" the homie with connections. Gotta find them.
not really interested in hacking the system. i’ll play by the rules.
i just do wish that apple included at least 9-12 students in eligibility.
Technically correct, yet homeschool teachers - aka parents of homeschooled K-12 students - used to be eligible and are no longer eligible. That of course left a large loophole for all K-12 parents/students.
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So you're telling me a HS principle that say's "yes I can do that I am a k-12 employee and will talk to Apple to see if all my students at the school can use their student ID's for a discount" is not playing by Apples rules?
and *if* your local Apple store says yes? then what?
You're not going to use it?
I'd rather have tried and failed, than to have never tried at all.
Isn't the educational discount meant for professional educators and college students? Homeschoolers are technically neither.
I agree. USAF vet and they won't let me have an account. Useless.
Discount can be for whomever Apple means it to be.
They used to include homeschool educators. That is no longer the case.
Apple education discounts aren't nearly as good as they were decades ago when you could get Macintosh computers with 40%+ education discounts. Granted, you could get Macintosh computers at non-education discounts too so the actual savings may not have been 40%+ but it was still a lot more than today.
Having said that, computers were still quite a bit more expensive (adjusting for inflation) back then even with the discounts.
Having said that, computers were still quite a bit more expensive (adjusting for inflation) back then even with the discounts.
Wow I don’t remember 40% off… I remember getting a Mac LC that I think was only sold to education customers and was very low spec like today they sell low spec laptops or iMacs only to education for a lower price… it did have lifetime apple care phone support which maybe was standard in the early 90s? And a card in the box for which you could redeem for corporate swag like a pen or a mug or something...
Well that’s crappy.
I bought my niece, who started college two years ago, a new MBA using the education discount since she was…using it as a college student.
What’s the option now to buy an educational student gift?
I bought my niece, who started college two years ago, a new MBA using the education discount since she was…using it as a college student.
What’s the option now to buy an educational student gift?
I doubt it as well as Apple isn't taking the hit on discounted gift cards and gets the float until they are used.
Yea, when my kids were in HS I was able to buy at the educational price, but I guess it depend on teh store. YMMV.
I've never had a problem, but why not just let us use our DD214 or VA ID card? A lot easier and the VA ID has a picture on t so you can't share it. Or just make the Exchange percent the same as the veteran price, now hat vets can buy online from the exchange.
I called and it sounds like home school teachers' options are to either call 1-800-MY-APPLE or go into an Apple retail store. I would bring whatever documentation you have with you to support your educational status.
FWIW, the Macbook Air discounts are $100 for the base machine and 10% off upgrades.
That makes sense, for example if you are a working or retired employee of Stanford University local to Apple Campuses, the education requirement for EDU Apple purchases includes some form of documentation or badge to show you qualify for the EDU discount. This UNiDAYS verification is way too limited in scope. Stanford encompasses multiple academic/business staff that don't fit strictly a description of teaching staff or students on the campus.
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Unidays wouldn’t accept a couple UC Schools for the last couple years. It was only fixed a few weeks ago…