What just happened? Apple now requires US shoppers applying for education pricing to verify their status as a student, teacher or staff member to qualify. Up to this point, Apple’s education pricing in the US largely worked on the honor system with the company reserving the right to ask someone for proof of their status after the purchase. Shoppers must now verify their eligibility using UNiDAYS just to gain access to the education portal.
UNiDAYS is a service that verifies education status and aggregates discounts that members can take advantage of. According to the company’s website, one in every three students in the US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are UNiDAYS members.
It’s not uncommon to find discounts of around 10 percent off Macs and iPads in Apple’s education store. The savings aren’t massive, but when you are a college student, every little bit helps.
Apple’s education store policy outlines the number of eligible purchases that can be made per year:
- Desktop: One (1) may be purchased per year
- Mac mini: One (1) may be purchased per year
- Notebook: One (1) may be purchased per year
- iPad: Two (2) may be purchased per year
- Accessories: Two (2) accessories with Education Pricing may be purchased per year
Apple has long since utilized verification in other regions. In fact, most services that offer student discounts will at least check to make sure you have an active .edu e-mail address. Apple didn’t say why it just now is making the change, but if we had to venture a guess, abuse of the honor system is the most likely candidate.
https://www.techspot.com/news/93049-apple-implements-verification-system-education-discounts-us.html
