Apple's US Education Store Now Requires Institution Verification to Buy Discounted Products

[kingtj1971]

The other consideration here is that really, Apple has long offered the same kind of discounts for a number of other things. They have a military discount, for example, as well as one for government employees. And I used to work for 2 different companies who let you get their corporate discounts at Apple stores or online, as long as they set that up with Apple in advance. (There's a program where all the employees of a business can get the same discount the business gets for its own internal purchases.)

The only bad thing I discovered with using a business discount like that is that they'll assign a new Mac as company-owned. It's up to the people in your company with access to the MDM system to "unregister" the computer, or else they'll forever retain the ability to do a forced wipe on your Mac. (Well, maybe this has been corrected now? But this happened to me back in 2019.)

I think most people who took the educational discount, over the years, did so based on some way they could rationalize it. (EG. I used to work for a guy who ran several daycares. He was a big Mac user and put older Macs in each daycare center for the kids to use for educational software and games. He always bought things under the discount, based on the fact he was doing all of that stuff - even if he didn't technically qualify.)

 

[gregmancuso]

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.

If all they are doing is using login confirmation then it really is not that big of a deal. Looking at the Education Store now there is a link to get verified by UniDAYS. Clicking that brings to a sign-up / sign-in. If it works anything like the military store you just log in and are dumped back into the Apple store for the transaction.

I need to get my wife to sign up so I can actually verify that. I have bought from both the Education and Military stores I noted past. Both offer essentially the same pricing (a few dollars here or there mostly around AppleCare). But for some reason the Military store only allows outright purchase whereas the Education store allows for outright purchase or free Apple Card financing.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Wonder how they are going to handle homeschoolers or if we are going to get the short end of the stick like always.

Pretty sure the program is designed for college students who have .edu emails rather than High School and below which don’t which is also how you’re verified. Why should a kid regardless of home school or not get a discount on products they most likely can’t even afford? I’ve never heard of a public school requiring students to have iPads or MacBooks. Private school or College yes, but not public/home school.

Should an elementary school kid at a public school get a discount as well? Makes no sense.

 

[gregmancuso]

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.

I have purchased in store with nothing but my VA card in hand. A training topic perhaps? (for your sales person or mine)

 

[kawalerzysta]

I have purchased in store with nothing but my VA card in hand. A training topic perhaps? (for your sales person or mine)

I tried in 3 different stores to buy iPad Air using military discount and was told that I have to purchase online and do pickup in store. So I think you got lucky. Wish I got lucky then because it would have saved me 30 minutes of wait time lol.

 

[Realityck]

A Apple store staff verified that nothing has changed as far as being able to show a ID and conduct your expected EDU purchase as previously. This UniDays verification is directed to minimize just anyone using the EDU discounts.

 

[jlc1978]

The only bad thing I discovered with using a business discount like that is that they'll assign a new Mac as company-owned. It's up to the people in your company with access to the MDM system to "unregister" the computer, or else they'll forever retain the ability to do a forced wipe on your Mac. (Well, maybe this has been corrected now? But this happened to me back in 2019.)

Not Apple but years ago I worked for a large consulting firm and they put my cellphone # on their account to get the discount. All I had to do was call ATT and say I work for X, please add to their account. No verification. When I left went to transfer the account back and they needed "the person in charge of cell phones" to call and do it. Now, they were a multinational company with thousands of employees. I asked who I need to contact. No idea, just "the person in charge of cell phones." I asked what happens if I don't pay? No problem, we just bill your company. OK.

I called my old admin, she called in, said she was "the person in charge of cell phones" and my number was transferred back to me.

I have purchased in store with nothing but my VA card in hand. A training topic perhaps? (for your sales person or mine)

Good to know. My guess it is not a consistent policy, but I've found Apple stores are pretty easy to deal with and mgrs have a lot of latitude.

 

[wood1208]

I thought Apple always required valid ID from your accredited educational institution. So, how is this different ?

 

[keifer123]

"Apple is now making it more difficult for customers in the United States to access its education discounts..."


Poor choice of words. Really, Apple is making things more difficult? How about simply stating that Apple is doing what it should have been doing in the first place: vetting and qualifying people who are qualified to get an Educator/Student discount?

Apple's only fault here is that they made it too easy for too long.

The wording from this MR article implies that Apple is WRONG (aka the bad guy) for making this change.... in reality this change is something that is making things right.

Agree
This is a loophole that has been going on a while.

 

[hrMACnstuff]

nothing for the little guy. nothing. they, however, get to slowly squeeze every single dollar out of each and every stone.

 

[mdorais]

Macrumors needs to report that this site is broken for staff at educational institutions. There's a bug on the site that keeps routing you to student verification which requires an expiration date on your ID which staff obviously don't have. For us educational staff the days of education discounts are over until they fix this bug.

 

[hudson1]

Isn't the educational discount meant for professional educators and college students? Homeschoolers are technically neither.

I know homeschool teachers who used to be top-notch professional teachers.

 

[ignatius345]

I generally find the discount on Apple refurbished to be better than the education discount, anyway. Only real downside is waiting for the model you want to show up there.

 

[baypharm]

It’s about time. Education discounts should be for those who deserve them. Unidays and ID.me are both easier to qualify under than Sheer ID.

 

[webkit]

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...

Education discounts were fairly significant in the 1980s. They weren't typically as generous in the 1990s but retail prices were declining, even as computers were getting more advanced/powerful, so net prices were still dropping. For example, a 1MB Macintosh Classic may have only been discounted 25% but that still put the price at around half what a 40%+ discounted 128K Macintosh sold for six years earlier.

 

[gps]

Agreed. We've updated the start.

Really bad move. What about:

1) From a UK based verification website ?
2) Which requires mandatory registration?
3) Not respecting the California privacy law, and, with...
4) ...a Waiver for Class Actions in Terms and Cond?

I really suggest to get a bit deeper in this… is stinky like a scam discount...

 

[kjvmartin]

People buy Apple products from Apple? Between Best Buy, Costco, and MicroCenter I would be throwing money away to buy at Apple.com or in store. Better prices elsewhere.

 

[BreakYurAnkles]

People buy Apple products from Apple? Between Best Buy, Costco, and MicroCenter I would be throwing money away to buy at Apple.com or in store. Better prices elsewhere.

customized BTO/CTO can only be done through apple.

you also get a student discount on AppleCare.

 

[Thisismattwade]

From Apple: “Available to current and newly accepted college students and their parents, as well as faculty, staff, and homeschool teachers of all grade levels.”

I’m not sure how they verify though.

Thanks, that’s helpful! We homeschool so I’ve always felt it would be legitimate to use the discount, though I never have because I’m willing to wait for the refurbs to hit. (C’mon 14” MacBook Pros already!! )

 

[thingstoponder]

Can you use someone else’s unidays account and have it billed to your Apple ID and email?

 

[FebruaryFilly]

Wonder how they are going to handle homeschoolers or if we are going to get the short end of the stick like always.

Exactly! I read their policy when I bought my M1 in November and it specifically stated homeschooling teachers (which I am). We're not affiliated with an 'institution' so how will we verify?? Apple needs to do some serious considering if they intend to exclude this exponentially growing segment of the learning community.

 

[monkeydax]

Can anyone verify if the discount offered is still the same as before? Or have the prices been amended too?

 

[ctjack]

In Apple's case, I don't think it's a big deal because the price differences aren't huge, but I've noticed healthcare providers giving discounts to students as well.

I'm not sure why they should prioritize one form of investment over another. If a person is starting a small business, it's just a different type of investment than education. Both are financial investments in something you are building.

It is called a price discrimination. You would want to charge the maximum that every person wants to pay - in ideal world. Remember those forum members, that keep saying if they remove the touchbar, i would even pay the double the price. That kind of guys should be charged twice the price, because they are willing to buy it.

Education people are poorer on average than the working professional out of school. Of course not counting Professors with 200-300K, but otherwise all of them have no stable full time jobs, so they have a discount to attract more people. Apple have calculated that even with reduced pricing, they attract more people thus more profits.

 

[watersb]

Parents with one kid in university, another recently accepted, and the UniDAYS signup experience is... not very Apple.

iPhone screenshot. The more you try to get the form into view on screen, the more it keeps zooming in. But the rounded corners are pretty.

 

[Hicksmat1976]

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.

Apple dont sell direct to education institutions, in the UK at least, and its been that way for several years. In UK HE you have to go through a re-seller such as Academia.