Education Discounts at APPLE.COM ??

[thekid055]

I recently called Apple to ask about the educational discounts. I asked if you had to send anything in to verify/prove that you are currently a student and the rep said "No". If this is true, what would stop non students from getting the educational discounts?? I've bought stuff before at other places and have had to prove that I was currently enrolled at my university before I could get the student discount.

Well, that will just make things not so complicated when I finally do purchase my powerbook, which will be in the next few weeks....I'm definitely gonna take advantage of that cram and jam deal!!

 

[thehuncamunca]

the apple edu store runs off the honor system
occasionally apple does ask for verification that you are a student, the worst they'll do if they find out you aren't is cancel your order

I recently called Apple to ask about the educational discounts. I asked if you had to send anything in to verify/prove that you are currently a student and the rep said "No". If this is true, what would stop non students from getting the educational discounts?? I've bought stuff before at other places and have had to prove that I was currently enrolled at my university before I could get the student discount.

Well, that will just make things not so complicated when I finally do purchase my powerbook, which will be in the next few weeks....I'm definitely gonna take advantage of that cram and jam deal!!

 

[SolidGun]

Apple occasionally calls up the school and verifies the information. My wife's friend works in admissions office and she said she got a call asking about my enrollment status from Apple, and of course she rushed after work to see my wife and my wife found out that I bought the PB instead of having traded it in with my old laptop at no charge (which is the story I went with).
I don't know what the agreement says, but breach in that agreement may have more severe punishment.

 

[NusuniAdmin]

Wait, i got in an argument with a friend the other day about the edu discount.

He said if you are a k-12 student no matter what you can get a discount from apple.com, so i check and for my school it says teachers and administration...just outta curiosity does anyone know?

 

[daxdagr8t]

The educational discount is intended for educators and college students, highschool students are not included in the discount which is odd.At the physical store you'll need to prove that you are a student but in the online store they do not require any proof that you are student.

 

[Chaszmyr]

highschool students are not included in the discount which is odd.

It's not that add really. College students are generally working to pay their own living and their tuition, HS students generally aren't.

 

[jtgotsjets]

It's not that add really. College students are generally working to pay their own living and their tuition, HS students generally aren't.

plus most high school seniors will be able to get the discount anyway (you only have to be "accepted" to a university)

 

[NusuniAdmin]

It's not that add really. College students are generally working to pay their own living and their tuition, HS students generally aren't.

which really sucks too...ah well. Actually the private school i was going to is setting something up for next year so students can get a discount. The school is a dedicated college proprietary school anyways. I wonder if they will have good luck...

 

[Natalia81]

Apple occasionally calls up the school and verifies the information. My wife's friend works in admissions office and she said she got a call asking about my enrollment status from Apple, and of course she rushed after work to see my wife and my wife found out that I bought the PB instead of having traded it in with my old laptop at no charge (which is the story I went with).
I don't know what the agreement says, but breach in that agreement may have more severe punishment.

What "punishment" could they possibly do other than cancel your order? Has anyone tried ordering off the education site and was not a student or school faculty member??

 

[OziMac]

No, they'll cancel your order or make you pay the difference. They do occassionally ask you for verifying details on the online store, but it's random.

Really, what is the big deal here? If you're not entitled to it, don't order EDU-priced items, or else you do so at your own risk and don't deserve any sympathy here.

 

[Dr. Dastardly]

The program is set up to help out students and teachers. If your not a student or teacher then please don't use the edu discount.

 

[homerjward]

forgive me father for i have sinned. i am a high school student, but since high school students are not officially supported (at least my high school) i used my mom's teacher discount to order the ipod from my sig. please dont punish me apple! dont make the imac g5 suck because of my dishonesty! my dad might actually buy one so dont make them bad!

 

[shecky]

If your not a student or teacher then please don't use the edu discount.

and i say that the hardware is so damn expensive that you should use any means neccesary to get a better deal that is sanctioned by Apple, eg. edu discount, ADC discount, refurbs, etc...

if it was killing them on profit, it would be gone, OR it would be policed MUCH more than it is now. Same with the ADC discount. Screw 'ethics', its a free market - buying a powerbook at full retail when you can buy it at a discount is like knowing you paid more for the plane seat than the guy next to you, but you said "OK" anyway. Apple still makes a profit just fine on edu and ADC discounted hardware + software.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

forgive me father for i have sinned. i am a high school student, but since high school students are not officially supported (at least my high school) i used my mom's teacher discount to order the ipod from my sig. please dont punish me apple! dont make the imac g5 suck because of my dishonesty! my dad might actually buy one so dont make them bad!

I doubt that Apple cares about a situation like yours.

What might kill the program are those that have no one in the household that qualifies. I mean out right lying that you can get the discount, and hoping you don't get caught.

What some forget is that educational discounts are offered by some companies on the hopes that you will stay with them and buy without the discount once your educational discount status ends. It is called building market share.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

and i say that the hardware is so damn expensive that you should use any means neccesary to get a better deal that is sanctioned by Apple, eg. edu discount, ADC discount, refurbs, etc...

if it was killing them on profit, it would be gone, OR it would be policed MUCH more than it is now. Same with the ADC discount. Screw 'ethics', its a free market - buying a powerbook at full retail when you can buy it at a discount is like knowing you paid more for the plane seat than the guy next to you, but you said "OK" anyway. Apple still makes a profit just fine on edu and ADC discounted hardware + software.

You open up an ethical dilemma. Just where do you stop to gain an advantage? Not just with computer hardware, but in anything else in life. Insider trading OK, as long as you don't get caught? An Enron style of working the commodity markets? I am afraid of the direction that this might lead the nation.

 

[jsalzer]

Marketing Potential

We have to keep in mind that Apple doesn't provide the educator/student discounts out of some misplaced morals. It's a part of a marketing plan.

A car dealership offers a discount to first-time buyers hoping that they'll enjoy the make of car and the dealer experience enough to buy their future cars at the same dealer.

This is why college students get the discount. Let them spend a few years falling in love with the Mac platform so that Apple will gain a life-long customer.

And why offer the discount to educators? For K-12, students will see their role models (cough) using Macs and be more likely to picture it as the platform to get when they get older.

Also, district Tech Coordinators (K-12) and Tech Directors (college) tend to be techies who would love to "standardize" the entire district/college on Windows. The more teachers you have fighting this, the more likely the school will maintain Mac labs and Macs in the classroom. Apple knows this.

Personally, I've worked at two colleges that were 100% Windows and now work at an R.O.E. that is 99% Windows. I take seriously my responsibility to win over converts. Apple takes care of me, and I take care of Apple.

You wouldn't consider asking for a first-time car buyer discount on your third car, so why would you consider ripping off Apple? Besides, the educator discounts are so gosh darn close to the non-educator prices nowadays that it doesn't seem worth the trouble.

 

[IndyGopher]

You open up an ethical dilemma. Just where do you stop to gain an advantage? Not just with computer hardware, but in anything else in life. Insider trading OK, as long as you don't get caught? An Enron style of working the commodity markets? I am afraid of the direction that this might lead the nation.

There's no dilemma here. Lying is wrong. Ask most any 4 year old. You can muck up the issue with all the other crap you want to, but this is what it boils down to. Are you a currently enrolled college student? Are you faculty or staff at a K-12 school, or a college? There is not much wiggle room there. So you either are, and are entitled, or you aren't, and thus not entitled.

As to the original post, the airline analogy is completely off-base. If you want to make it even, the analogy would be, the guy next to you got a bereivement rate because he's flying home to bury his parents. Is it ok to tell the airline you're in the same situation to get the same rate? (If you say yes, there's no point reading anything else you have to say, ever.)

 

[supergod]

I don't know about the American Apple Store, but the Canadian one has a mistake where when it asks you to enter your student number you just enter any random 9 numbers (ie: 123456789) and it will give you the discount. I don't go to University and I have been getting an 11% discount on everything that I buy. Then again, I could always simply borrow the student card of someone who goes to University, but this is just more fun!

 

[Duff-Man]

I don't know about the American Apple Store, but the Canadian one has a mistake where when it asks you to enter your student number you just enter any random 9 numbers (ie: 123456789) and it will give you the discount. I don't go to University and I have been getting an 11% discount on everything that I buy. Then again, I could always simply borrow the student card of someone who goes to University, but this is just more fun!

Duff-Man says....yes, dishonesty and cheating is "fun" ...oh yeah!

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

There's no dilemma here. Lying is wrong. Ask most any 4 year old. You can muck up the issue with all the other crap you want to, but this is what it boils down to. Are you a currently enrolled college student? Are you faculty or staff at a K-12 school, or a college? There is not much wiggle room there. So you either are, and are entitled, or you aren't, and thus not entitled.

As to the original post, the airline analogy is completely off-base. If you want to make it even, the analogy would be, the guy next to you got a bereivement rate because he's flying home to bury his parents. Is it ok to tell the airline you're in the same situation to get the same rate? (If you say yes, there's no point reading anything else you have to say, ever.)

Hope you weren't trying to use "you" to describe me personally.

Maybe my choice of the word "dilemma" was wrong, but the thought was that we are becoming a nation of people that make excuses, as long as we can benefit in some way. So you and I are on the same side of the coin, I think. So i question whether there is a "point reading anything else you have to say, ever" too.

And in regards to the bereavement example, that is flawed also. Depending on the airline, it might vary. But I do know that American Airlines 20+ years ago required a death notice/certificate, or a doctors note in order to qualify.

As an aside on this, there are people that would answer yes. Look at how many people lie about someone passing to get time off of work. As any HR director. In some cases the same person has died two or three times.

 

[shecky]

it has notihing to do with lying, it has to do with taking advantagte of an exisiting procedure set up by the company i am buying from to get a better price. Insider trading is a stupid example, because that is ILLEGAL. using the edu discount when not a student is not illegal, just possibly unethical. And if Apple had thier organization together enough to properly police it, then it would be a non issue. Read what i said again, taking advantage of procedures in place that ARE SANCTIONED BY APPLE to get a better price is fine by me. You are not breaking any laws.

 

[stevehaslip]

it has notihing to do with lying.

what would you call it then?

using the edu discount when not a student is not illegal, just possibly unethical.

its fraud! You are potentially harming Apple, sure they have $$$ in the bank but you really want to put something you enjoy on a day to day basis in jeopardy because you want to save yourself a few bucks?

Sure you won't be the one to lose out, you obviously aren't a student but if everybody who bought an Apple computer claimed educational discount then Apple would have to stop doing it. And students, who can't always afford to fork out for the full price would suffer. That doesn't exactly seem fair?
So if you can get away with it then that makes it ok?

 

[Duff-Man]

it has notihing to do with lying, it has to do with taking advantagte of an exisiting procedure set up by the company i am buying from to get a better price. Insider trading is a stupid example, because that is ILLEGAL. using the edu discount when not a student is not illegal, just possibly unethical. And if Apple had thier organization together enough to properly police it, then it would be a non issue. Read what i said again, taking advantage of procedures in place that ARE SANCTIONED BY APPLE to get a better price is fine by me. You are not breaking any laws.

Duff-Man says....once again I am amazed (but not totally surprised) at some of the weak excuses people come up with to try and justify their cheating.....oh yeah!

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

what would you call it then?

So if you can get away with it then that makes it ok?

For some it is. And this is my concern for the future of the nation as a whole. We seem to be selfish. So what if I speed, I am just driving what the roads can handle? So what that I found a loophole in the law that allows me to do xyz?

Many people don't know that they are breaking the law when they buy something through "mail-order". Some states have a "use tax" that is to be paid when you file your income taxes.

We seem to be driven towards making excuses for our behavior. The state's tax me too much already. My speeding doesn't hurt anyone. Red-light cameras are there only to make more money. The RIAA and MPAA folks make too much money as it is. Or Apple is making a profit any ways on EDU discounts. The list is endless.

Greed is good should have died long ago.

 

[shecky]

jesus christ......... will you people LISTEN to what i am saying.

using the edu discount not as a student is NOT ILLEGAL. it is NOT something you can be arrested for, it is not something you can be fined for, it is not something you can goto jail for. (If i am wrong about this by all means let me know... then i will completely recind my argument - but my understanding is that it is NOT illegal.) It is something that Apple has set up to draw more people into purchasing thier wares. IF Apple would police it more vigilantly, IF Apple would force you to send in an ID or something for online orders, IF Apple would require you to flash an ID badge in an Apple store (which soemtimes they do, sometimes they don't), IF Apple did these things, then people would not be able to take advantage of this pricing short of making a fake student ID, which IS ILLEGAL. Apple is not stupid, they are well aware that not every edu sale goes to a qualified edu person, yet they still allow it to run rampant? why is that? I wonder........

......OH YEAH! its because they still make money and still sell thier product and still draw in more customers by offering a "discounted" price. They are not doing edu pricing because they are kind, and good citizens, they are doing it as said above to draw in people while they are younger into buying an Apple platform instead of a PC platform. Its marketing, nothing more.

I have not paid retail for Apple product (or damn near any computer product for that matter) in YEARS, and i feel fan-freaking-tastic about it. Support Apple? i support apple every time i use my powerbook, or my ipod, or itunes, or any number of products. As far as "support Apple by giving them more money when i don't have to" thats absoloutly ridiculous. I don't need to justify or make excuses for my actions, my postings here are to let those less informed know that untill Apple decides to play hardball, you should take advantage of an available discount.

@stevehaslip: i am a student at the moment, so obviously you can go ahead and stop guessing about things you have no knowledge of. even when i was not a student, i have taken advantage of these discounts, so my above argument holds true. And you may call it 'lying,' i call it 'getting the best price thru legal means'

@duff: shecky says: i am not making an excuse for anything, i am pointing out a legal loophole that i feel totally comfortable taking advantage of... oh yeah!

once again... IF what i am saying is illegal, then i will be happy to completely and 100% agree with what all of you are saying, and ask you to disregard what i have said. However, my understanding is that it is NOT illegal.