What you need to know
- Apple now requires verification before giving an education discount.
- Students, teachers, and staff members are able to get discounts at Apple.
- People must now verify eligibility via UNiDAYS.
Apple now requires that anyone wishing to take advantage of its education discount prove that they are a student, teacher, or staff member. The move comes after years of very little proof being required when people bought products from Apple. There is little doubt that people have been able to take advantage of the offer when they shouldn't have, something that has surely led to this move.
The crackdown was first noticed by people on Reddit with verification now required via UNiDAYS. Interestingly, this only appears to apply to the United States education discount at the time of writing with the Canadian one remaining wide open.
To verify your student or staff status, you will be redirected to the third-party website UNiDAYS and will be subject to their privacy policy(Opens in a new window). By registering and using their website, the data you provide will be owned, controlled and processed solely by UNiDAYS and not by Apple.
Apple has updated its education pricing storefront to reflect the change with people able to click through to the UNiDAYS website to complete the authentication and verification process. Once done, orders will be placed as they normally would. It's a process well worth going through especially if you're kitting yourself, or someone else, out for the school year and buying a new MacBook Pro, iPad Air, and other Apple gear.
