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Does apple check education eligibility?

A

appletimeuser

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 31, 2005
17
0
Hi. I was wondering if Apple checks education eligibility? I am a high school student and I am not enrolled in college yet but I will in about a year. I want to get the educational discount online and I'm wondering if I place an order through the education store and say that im eligible if they will check that? Also - if I buy the rebate thingy for the ipod, will I be able to get it or will they check on that as well?

Regards.
 
appletimeuser said:
Hi. I was wondering if Apple checks education eligibility? I am a high school student and I am not enrolled in college yet but I will in about a year. I want to get the educational discount online and I'm wondering if I place an order through the education store and say that im eligible if they will check that? Also - if I buy the rebate thingy for the ipod, will I be able to get it or will they check on that as well?

Regards.
Click to expand...
Yes they will....in fact I just recently purchased a 12' PB and they asked for my University ID card...punched in the ID no. to check up my enrollement and all...if you have an apple sore though, I would advice you to talk to them about this...maybe there is still a way out.....wish you all the best man!
 
ajampam said:
Yes they will....in fact I just recently purchased a 12' PB and they asked for my University ID card...punched in the ID no. to check up my enrollement and all...if you have an apple sore though, I would advice you to talk to them about this...maybe there is still a way out.....wish you all the best man!
Click to expand...

Well...this isn't at all similar to my experience from ordering online, and over the phone. The only thing they ask for is the city/state, and name of a university. That's it. No other proof needed.
 
appletimeuser said:
ahhhhhhhh..... im confused now!!! do they check it or not???
Click to expand...
The answer is usually in a retail store, they will likely ask to see your school ID... Online store, Apple uses some sort of random check, sometimes they check, sometimes they don't. It's ulitmately your gamble.
 
Over the phone, I was only asked for a city/state/univ and that was it, no other proof. You should be fine over phone, now the internet I don't know. You don't have any older siblings that are in college?
 
devilot76 said:
The answer is usually in a retail store, they will likely ask to see your school ID... Online store, Apple uses some sort of random check, sometimes they check, sometimes they don't. It's ulitmately your gamble.
Click to expand...

I bought my ibook at a retail store and tehy asked for my Id...
 
Well I recently bought an iBook on the online education store. It's now shipped and they haven't asked for any proof of status. It appears to be a random process, so surely it's worth a try?
 
In the UK it's a random check, they certainly don't check everyone, but several of my students have been asked to provide their student numbers.

Be careful though they will blacklist you from the service if it turns out you aren't eligable, however they want to sell lots of kit and I don't think the level of checking is very high.
 
The Apple Store in Bluewater Shopping Centre, Kent, UK wanted to see proof of entitlement when I enquired about a PB yesterday.

All they wanted was evidence of a conditional offer from a university, which I had (but not on me in the store)
 
thomasp said:
The Apple Store in Bluewater Shopping Centre, Kent, UK wanted to see proof of entitlement when I enquired about a PB yesterday.

All they wanted was evidence of a conditional offer from a university, which I had (but not on me in the store)
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That'll do it, as long as you have the offer, they assume you're going....

Of course you could simply have worked for two years for your A levels and applied to Uni just to get cheap Macs...:D
 
The point is that if you go to an Apple Store, then yes they'll check.

If you do it online, the chances of them checking are slim to none. I think the chances of Steve Jobs delivering a G5 PowerBook is greater. In other words: very small. :p
 
WinterMute said:
That'll do it, as long as you have the offer, they assume you're going....

Of course you could simply have worked for two years for your A levels and applied to Uni just to get cheap Macs...:D
Click to expand...

You've found me out... :p

I also contacted Computer Warehouse, who we've bought most of our macs from. To get their education discount, they actually want confirmation of a place - in other words, I need to wait until after my results come through.
 
The online store does do random checks, I've had my account checked twice over the past three years where they wanted me to fax in my ID and student schedule. I read somewhere that if you can not prove your status they will send you a bill for the amount of the discount you received. Apple does a good thing that they don't have to do with the EDU program for teachers and college students, people taking advantage of it will only end it earlier.
 
Kwyjibo said:
I read somewhere that if you can not prove your status they will send you a bill for the amount of the discount you received.
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So it's possible to get hit with a bill after you've recieved your order? :eek:
 
fieldsofanfield said:
So it's possible to get hit with a bill after you've recieved your order? :eek:
Click to expand...

If you tried to cheat and get something you didn't qualify for. If you truly are a college student, employee, or applied for a college, than they cannot bill you. If they do you can just fight it.

Here's something funny. My grandpa called Apple to order a Dual 2.3 G5. He was asking what the best deal they could do on the G5+something else. I don't exactly remember, but they gave him a price, and I said wow that's great. The rep. said it was with educational pricing. I was like, he's 80 something years old, he's not a college employee or student. Then the guy said, "Well where did he work when he was younger". I told him he was a maintenance worker for some schools. The rep. said sure that will qualify and let him do it. :eek:
 
ITASOR said:
If you tried to cheat and get something you didn't qualify for. If you truly are a college student, employee, or applied for a college, than they cannot bill you. If they do you can just fight it.
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Well I'm not actually at university yet, I just have a conditional offer so I'm not sure whether I'm really eligable or not :confused: I don't actually start my course until October. If they do try to bill me I think it's a bit unfair because I need to get myself sorted out with a computer before I start.
 
fieldsofanfield said:
Well I'm not actually at university yet, I just have a conditional offer so I'm not sure whether I'm really eligable or not :confused: I don't actually start my course until October. If they do try to bill me I think it's a bit unfair because I need to get myself sorted out with a computer before I start.
Click to expand...

In Store = varies
In the store, it really depends who you talk to and what you're buying... If you talk to a manager, and the manager is cool, and you're going to buy a lot, (i.e. a computer plus a printer plus an ipod plus applecare plus MS Office) sometimes they'll fudge on it... but usually at the store you need something... sometimes even just signing into your college email on one of the store computers... Or bring in a friend or parent or family friend who's been anywhere NEAR a college or university....

Online store = never check
 
I just purchased a fully loaded 12" Powerbook, except for RAM, an extra battery, my free ipod mini, free HP printer, and a mouse from the online store bringing my purcahse up to $2100. I am in Highschool and used the education discount. I ordered Thurshay. It shipped Friday. I received everything except for the laptop today. Waiting untill Friday for the laptop. Grumble grumble. Just a word of advice to apple, ship the computer first, you get so fidgety when you recieve all your assecories and have no toy to try them on.

By the way I theorethically go to Rollins College.

I hope I helped.
 
fieldsofanfield said:
Well I'm not actually at university yet, I just have a conditional offer so I'm not sure whether I'm really eligable or not :confused: I don't actually start my course until October. If they do try to bill me I think it's a bit unfair because I need to get myself sorted out with a computer before I start.
Click to expand...

The Apple Store in Bluewater shopping Centre, Kent, UK will quite happily accept the letter from your university that states you have a conditional offer - the manager of that store told me so :)

I imagine it'll be the same for all the other Apple stores.


BTW, I'm getting a PB next week from the Apple store in Bluewater, as they offered the best educational discount - 8% for a PB, 6% on everything else.
 
I'm 16 and bought my Mac Mini using the educational discount. I just put in my High Schools name, they didn't check or anything.

Even if they do check, the worst they can do is cancel your order.
 
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