question regarding educational discount

[captainbeefheat]

I wondered how much of an eye apple keep on the educational discount. I have bought two macs under it in the last year an ibook and an imac.

My sister who wants a laptop for when she is going away to uni was looking at the macbook. At the moment until sep you get a free nano with it I think. I don't think she will be enrolled until the closing date so i assume can't get the deal? So was thinking of getting the Mac under my name, which would be the third this year. I may even be considering another desktop mac for myself as I am doing all right for money at the moment as I'm on a year paid placement. I assume I am still considered a student in apples eyes. the Uni certainly think so by charging me half tuition fees , for what I am unsure, but don't get me started on that...Plus I have a uni email address still!

Is their some sort of limit does anyone know you can buy with a discount? Or a amount they might start asking questions about? All the Macs I sitll buy will be different types.

 

[mkrishnan]

She's enrolling for classes this fall at a university, yes?

It's probably better if she buys it -- because she's in a gray area, but you are definitely violating the terms of the educational discount if you buy it. Usually, Apple and others are very good about accepting proof of impending future enrollment. If you think about it, they would much rather have her as a customer now when they have the chance than let her get an HP.

So I would say:

1) Call them and ask them about the situation

2) Just roll the dice, and have her buy it. Usually they don't even ask for verification. If they do come back in an audit and ask, then by that time she will have it anyway.

 

[extraextra]

I remember reading on the Apple site that the education discount applies to people "accepted or currently enrolled" in a school. So if she's accepted, she's fine.

And I went to the store when I wasn't even in college (maybe around April - I had been accepted though) and the guy said it was no problem and gave me a discount. They didn't ask for proof or anything.

Ok, found on Apple.com:

You must be a qualified Apple Education Individual end-user purchaser. Qualified participants include:

* K12: Any employee of a public or private K-12 institution in the United States. School board members who are currently serving as elected or appointed members. PTA or PTO executives currently serving as elected or appointed officers.
* Higher Education: Faculty and staff of Higher Education institutions; and students attending, or accepted in to a Higher Education institution.

 

[agentphish]

User her. It will work

 

[bigrell486]

As long as she has a ".edu" email address she can use the education discount

 

[xfiftyfour]

Yeah, last year when I was buying my PB in the store, I'd only been accepted to a uni, and all they asked for was my acceptance letter as proof.

They're pretty easy going about the student discount. I'd have her buy it - it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[SuperSnake2012]

As long as she has a ".edu" email address she can use the education discount

Don't even need that if you buy online, I buy stuff from the education store all the time and I use an @gmail.com e-mail addy

 

[mkrishnan]

Don't even need that if you buy online, I buy stuff from the education store all the time and I use an @gmail.com e-mail addy

Same. Occasionally someone will ask you to fax in your student ID. That's about it. For Apple, it's on an audit basis -- I don't think I've ever been asked to show it to them. Amusingly I didn't have to prove student discount to get an iBook, but I did to get PSE3 for a $30 discount.

 

[mattjgalloway]

Hang on hang on...

Why is it wrong to buy for someone who can't get the discount themselves? How do Apple know you are not using it for yourself? I've bought 3 laptops now in the space of a couple of months all under educational discount and they havn't said anything...

I don't mean buying for the random person in the street, but for family that's different surely?

 

[Kane.Elson]

Hang on hang on...

Why is it wrong to buy for someone who can't get the discount themselves? How do Apple know you are not using it for yourself? I've bought 3 laptops now in the space of a couple of months all under educational discount and they havn't said anything...

I don't mean buying for the random person in the street, but for family that's different surely?

Well .. no ...
Pretty much everyone is related to a student, so by your logic anyone should be able to get student discount products ?

 

[mattjgalloway]

No? Everyone is related to a student? How'd you figure that one?

I mean I bought 3 laptops - one for myself, one for my sister (also a student but she's just enrolled and doesn't have NUS card yet - same as OP's problem) and one for my dad. I bought that for him as his birthday present (well, my mum paid, but I helped with all the ordering / advising on it).

I really don't feel bad doing that because at the end of the day I've done nothing wrong. I bought the laptop using my own money. Just so happened my mum gave me the money back afterwards...

My parents help me through uni, so them getting some of the benefits is surely fine...

If I was buying lots of stuff for mates then I'd feel bad, but close family I really don't have a problem with. I'll only be able to do it for another year at which point *no-one in my family will be a student* - but I guess I'll have to hunt out that one person in my family which is a student that I *must* have...

 

[jsklar]

agreed, i've bought things using the edu discount for family without whom i may not be eligible to receive said discount. and i've gone to the store with someone else to buy for them even when it was their credit card being used and there was no need to hide it. the guys working at the apple store didn't seem to care so long as i wasn't going over the limit of one mini, desktop, laptop, etc per year.

another interesting thing to note, captainbeefheat, is that because the edu discounts are used for students in the academic field, their "year" revolves around the academic calendar, so it resets every july 1 (or 31 i forget which) which lets you buy something new for back 2 school. that means if you bought one mac in april and another in august you're fine.

my 2c

j

 

[swiftaw]

I mean I bought 3 laptops... I really don't feel bad doing that because at the end of the day I've done nothing wrong.

Actually, technically you have. The educational discount is restricted to a limited number of purchases per year. From apple's website:

Faculty, Staff and Students purchasing from the Apple Store for Education Individuals will be allowed to purchase the following quantities of product per academic school year:

Desktop: One (1) may be purchased per academic year
Mac mini: One (1) may be purchased per academic year
Laptop: One (1) may be purchased per academic year
Display: A maximum of two (2) may be purchased per academic year
Software: A maximum of two (2) per software title may be purchased per academic year
iPod: One (1) per iPod family (iPod, iPod nano, iPod Shuffle 1GB) may be purchased per academic year (Note: there is no quantity limitation on iPod Shuffle 512MB)
iSight: One (1) may be purchased per academic year

 

[captainbeefheat]

Thanks, I can probably get a bigger discount I would think then my sister can, if you go threw higher education store and enter in the place u go to you seem to get twice as much of a discount. Not sure if it is dependent on which uni you go to. For instance I know that the uni I go to put a lot of business apples way.

 

[Kane.Elson]

Woops, I should have read the responses. Swiftaw posted what I was going to say

So the fact of the matter is, you are doing something wrong.