Students, teachers, and those who work for an educational institution can save money on a new Mac, MacBook, or iPad by shopping at the Apple Education Store, which offers discounts all year round.

In this article, we will explain how much the Apple education discount is and who qualifies for an Apple student discount, before explaining how to get an Apple student discount at the Apple Education Store. Click the link below to go to Apple’s education storefront in your country:

• Apple’s U.S. Education Store
• Apple’s U.K. Education Store (in the UK you will need to verify your student status via UNiDAYS).
• Apple’s Canada Education Store
• Apple’s Australian Education Store

What products does Apple discount for students?

The discounts are only available for iPads, MacBooks and Macs.

Education discounts are not available on the iPhone, Apple TV, Apple Watch, HomePods, accessories, or software.

AirPods don’t get a student discount either, but Apple has been known to give away AirPods as part of a student-focused deal during the back-to-school buying season. Apple’s Back To School offer runs between June and October each year in the northern hemisphere, and between January and March in the southern hemisphere. Apple’s promotion is currently running in the U.S. where it is giving away vouchers, but in previous years, and in January 2023 in Australia, the company gave away AirPods to registered students purchasing a Mac or iPad.

Students can also get Apple Music for half price with free Apple TV+ included.

How much is the Apple student discount?

Apple doesn’t offer a single, universal discount to students. It sets different prices for each product range.

Students can save up to $200/£220 on Macs and up to $50/£60 on iPads.

Here’s how the iPad MSRP compares to the student price:

iPad	U.S.	U.K.	Australia	Canada
iPad (9th gen) MSRP	$329	£369	$549	$449
iPad (9th gen) Student Price	$309	£349	$519	$419
iPad (10th gen) MSRP	$449	£499	$749	$599
iPad (10th gen) Student Price	$419 	£469	$699	$559
iPad mini MSRP	$499	£569	$829	$679
iPad mini Student Price	$449 	£509	$749	$609
iPad Air MSRP	$599	£669	$999	$799
iPad Air Student Price	$549	£609	$919	$729
iPad Pro 11-inch MSRP	$799	£899	$1,399	$1,099
iPad Pro 11-inch Student Price	$749	£839	$1,309	$1,029

Here’s how the Mac MSRP compares to the student price:

Mac	U.S.	U.K.	Australia	Canada
13.3-inch MacBook Air, M1, MSRP	$999	£999	$1,499	$1,299
13.3-inch MacBook Air, M1, Student discount	$899	£899	$1,349	$1,169
13.6-inch MacBook Air, M2, MSRP	$1,099	£1,149	$1,799	$1,449
13.6-inch MacBook Air, M2, Student discount	$999	£1,049	$1,649	$1,299
15-inch MacBook Air, M2, MSRP	$1,299	£1,399	$2,199	$1,749
15-inch MacBook Air, M2, Student discount	$1,199	£1,289	$1,999	$1,599
13-inch MacBook Pro MSRP	$1,299	£1,349	$1,999	$1,699
13-inch MacBook Pro Student discount	$1,199	£1,249	$1,849	$1,574
14-inch MacBook Pro MSRP	$1,999	£2,149	$3,199	$2,599
14-inch MacBook Pro Student discount	$1,849	£1,989	$2,959	$2,399
16-inch MacBook Pro MSRP	$2,499	£2,699	$3,999	$3,199
16-inch MacBook Pro Student discount	$2,299	£2,479	$3,679	$2,939
iMac MSRP	$1,299	£1,399	$1,999	$1,699
iMac Student discount	$1,249	£1,349	$1,919	$1,629
Mac mini MSRP	$599	£649	$999	$799
Mac mini Student discount	$499	£539	$829	$669
Mac Studio MSRP	$1,999	£2,099	$3,299	$2,699
Mac Studio Student discount	$1,799	£1,889	$2,969	$2,429
Mac Pro MSRP	$6,999	£7,199	$11,999	$8,999
Mac Pro Student discount	$6,599	£6,789	$11,309	$8,479

MacBook student discounts

Below are the discounts on the base model Macs, there are bigger discounts on the more expensive models.

How much can students save on the 13-inch MacBook Air, M2?

MSRP: $1,099 / £1,149 / AU$1,799 / CA$1,449
Student: $999 / £1,049 / AU$1,649 / CA$1,299

Students save: $100 / £100 / AU$150 / CA$150

How much can students save on the 15-inch MacBook Air, M2?

MSRP: $1,299 / £1,399 / AU$2,199 / CA$1,749
Student: $1,199 / £1,289 / AU$1,999 / CA$1,599

Students save: $100 / £110 / AU$200 / CA$150

How much can students save on the 13-inch MacBook Pro, M2?

MSRP: $1,299 / £1,349 / AU$1,999 / CA$1,699
Student: $1,199 / £1,249 / AU$1,849 / CA$1,574

Students save: $100 / £150 / AU$150 / CA$125

How much can students save on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, M2 Pro?

MSRP: $1,999 / £2,149 / AU$3,199 / CA$2,599
Student: $1,849 / £1,989 / AU$2,959 / CA$2,399

Students save: $150 / £160 / AU$240 / CA$200

How much can students save on the 13-inch MacBook Air, M1?

MSRP: $999 / £999 / AU$1,499 / CA$1,299
Student: $899 / £899 /AU$1,349 / CA$1,169

Students save: $100 / £100 / AU$150 / CA$130

How much can students save on the Mac mini, M2?

MSRP: $599 / £649 / AU$999 / CA$799
Student: $499 / £539 / AU$829 / CA$669

Students save: $100 / £110 / AU$170 / CA$130

How much can students save on the iMac?

MSRP: $1,299 / £1,399 / AU$1,999 / CA$1,699
Student discount: $1,249 / £1,349 / AU$1,919 / CA$1,629

Students save: $50 / £210 / AU$330 / CA$270

Get the student discount at:

Apple’s U.S. Education Store
Apple’s U.K. Education Store (in the UK you will need to verify your student status via UNiDAYS).
Apple’s Canada Education Store
Apple’s Australian Education Store

You may be able to get better discounts if you shop elsewhere. We round up the best MacBook Pro deals, the best MacBook Air deals, the best iMac deals, and the best Mac mini deals.

We also have a guide to the best Mac for students that you might find useful.

iPad student discounts

Below are the discounts on the base model iPads, there are bigger discounts on the more expensive models.

How much can students save on the 9th gen iPad?

MSRP: $329 / £369 / AU$549 / CA$449
Students: $309 / £349 / AU$519 / CA$419

Students save: $20 / £20 / AU$30 / CA$30

How much can students save on the iPad mini?

MSRP: $499 / £569 / AU$829 / CA$679
Students: $449 / £509 / AU$749 / CA $609

Students save: $50 / £60 / AU$80 / CA$70

How much can students save on the 10th gen iPad?

MSRP: $449 / £499 / AU$749 / CA$599
Students; $419 / £469 / AU$699 / CA$559

Students save: $30 / £30 / AU$50 / CA$40

Get the student discount at:

Apple’s U.S. Education Store
Apple’s U.K. Education Store (in the UK you will need to verify your student status via UNiDAYS).
Apple’s Canada Education Store
Apple’s Australian Education Store

You may find a better deal or discount if you check out our deals round-ups: best iPad Air deals, best iPad mini deals, best iPad 10.2in deals, and the best iPad Pro deals.

If you’re thinking of buying an iPad for college or university you also might like to read our guide to the Best iPad for students.

Who can get an Apple student discount?

Now we have told you how much you can save, the big question is whether you can save anything at all. Do you qualify for Apple’s student discounts?

In order to shop at Apple’s Education Stores and take advantage of the lower prices you need to qualify as a student or work in an education institution.

If you were hoping that you could get a discount for the Mac you want to buy your 13-year-old the bad news is that you can’t, unless you are employed by the school and buying for the institution, or you are a home educator. Students in high school don’t qualify for this discount.

There are three types of people who can qualify for a student discount:

• Students in higher education (post-secondary education, e.g. university, college).
• People who are buying for education institutions.
• Parents of higher education students buying on their behalf.
• Home-based educators.

Apple spells this out in more detail in its terms and conditions.

For the U.S. these state that the following groups are “eligible to purchase from the Apple Store for Education:”

• K-12 staff: Any employee of a public or private K-12 institution in the United States is eligible, including homeschool teachers (this doesn’t include people educating their children during lockdowns). In addition, school board members who are currently serving as elected or appointed members are eligible. PTA or PTO executives currently serving as elected or appointed officers are eligible.
• Higher education staff and students: Faculty and staff of higher educational institutions in the U.S.; and students attending, or accepted into a higher educational institution in the U.S. are eligible to purchase. Purchases from the Apple Store for Education Individuals are not for institutional purchase or resale.
• Higher education parents: Parents purchasing on behalf of their child, who is a student currently attending or accepted into a public or private higher educational institution in the U.S. are eligible to purchase.

Apple has a similar set of terms and conditions for eligibility in the U.K.:

• Employees of any education institution: Any employee of a public or private education institution in the U.K.
• Post-secondary education students: Students attending or accepted into a post-secondary education institution in the U.K.
• Parents of post-secondary students: Parents purchasing on behalf of their child, who is a student currently attending or accepted into a public or private post-secondary education institution in the U.K.

If you’re attending higher education, or have been accepted into a higher education/post-secondary institution, you qualify for an Apple discount. (In the U.K. post-secondary means university, or any other formal education that takes place after secondary education is complete. Therefore, this excludes sixth-form colleges, although it may be worth inquiring at an Apple Store to see if the company is prepared to relax the rules.)

Parents of post-secondary/higher education students do not qualify when buying for themselves, but they can pick up a discounted Mac for their child from the education store.

Anybody who works in an educational environment qualifies for a discount on certain Apple products. It’s not just limited to teachers and lecturers but also covers administrative workers and other staff members. Essentially, it’s anybody who works at or for a school, college, or university. (This is not limited to post-secondary institutions. Apple refers to “any education institution.”)

This does mean that you can’t get a discount for a Mac or iPad for your child who is currently at school, although the school could make the purchase and provide the equipment for students.

If you don’t qualify for an Apple Education Store discount, we’d recommend instead checking out the Apple Refurbished Store, which offers discounts for everyone. You can’t apply a student discount in Apple’s Refurbished Store. We also recommend that you check our round-ups of the latest and best Apple deals we find at various Apple resellers.

How many products can I buy?

According to this Sales Policy document on the U.S. Apple site and the same on the U.K. Apple Education site, students can purchase the following with education pricing:

• Desktop Mac: One may be purchased per year
• Laptop Mac: One may be purchased per year
• iPad: Two may be purchased per year
• Accessories: Two accessories with Education Pricing may be purchased per year

How to get a student discount at Apple

Having established that you qualify for an education discount, how can you get money off at Apple?

You may think that all you need to do is visit the Apple Store for Education and you will find the products you want at a lower price. However, before you can access Apple’s Education Store you will need to verify that you are a student or that you qualify in another way (e.g. you work in a school or college). Different countries have different sequences of steps to go through, which we will run through below. 

How to get an Apple student discount in the U.S.

If you are a student in the U.S. it is quite easy to get an Education discount at the U.S. Apple Store–in fact, a loophole may mean it is possible to get a student discount without any proof that you are a student. If you are a student you should follow these steps:

1. Visit Apple’s U.S. Education Store.
2. Choose the Mac or iPad you want and click on your selection.
3. Once you have customized your Apple product, click Continue.
4. Enter your delivery details and check out.
5. Beware that Apple can request to see evidence that you are a student at any point during or after the purchase and will charge an additional fee if you fail to provide it.

If you have any problems, we recommend you get your student status verified with UNiDAYS or log on from your university network. Make sure you have quick access to some form of official identification that proves you qualify for the education discount. Your student ID is a good choice.

In January 2022, Apple changed the U.S. Education Discount Store to require validation from UNiDAYS before students can get a discount, but it then removed the requirement. Apple could re-implement this validation step that students in other countries have to go through. If it does it may still be possible for non-students in the U.S. to avoid the validation step, as per this Reddit post.

Canadian students can follow the same steps as the U.S. Start shopping at Apple’s Canada Education Store.

How to get an Apple student discount in the U.K.

U.K. students will need to register with UNiDAYS before they can get a discount from the Apple Education Store.

1. Visit Apple’s U.K. Education Store to access the Apple Education site.
2. Once there you’ll be encouraged to sign up on the student discount website UNiDAYS. You can also use the alternative service Student Beans to register for Apple’s educational discounts.
3. On whichever site you use, you’ll need to provide your email address and a password, your name, institution, subject of study, years of study, and course length.
4. Once you have completed the registration process and signed in you will be able to access Apple’s student discounts.

If you don’t want to register via a verification site, you can also call Apple, use Apple’s Chat online feature, or visit an Apple Store. The staff there will guide you through the process.

How to get an Apple student discount in Australia

1. Visit Apple’s Australian Education Store.
2. It’s usually best to log on from your university network if you can.
3. You will also want to make sure you have quick access to some form of official identification that proves you qualify for the education discount. Your student ID is a good choice.
4. However, you may find you don’t actually require any sort of login or ID to order from the Apple Education Store–but beware that Apple can request to see evidence that you are a student at any point during or after the purchase and will charge an additional fee if you fail to provide it.

How to buy Apple products for an education institution

If you have been tasked with buying new Macs or iPads for a school, college, or university then Apple has a different store for you. This store is designed for those who are buying a Mac for an educational institution (for students to work on rather than for individual students to own).

1. You should visit the U.S. Apple Store for Education Institutions, the U.K. Apple Store for Education Institutions, or the Australian equivalent.
2. You’ll need to search for your Educational Institution: enter your institution’s details and click on search. 
3. If your institution is found you will be able to sign in to access your institution’s store.
4. You may still need to register before you can use the store.
5. If your school, college, or other institution isn’t found then you may need to call Apple to discuss registering your school.

How to get a student discount for Apple Music and Apple TV+

Apple’s student membership scheme for Apple Music offers those in full-time education a 50 percent subscription discount and this deal is better than ever right now because the Student Apple Music deal also includes Apple TV+ for a limited time (normally $6.99/£6.99 per month). If you are a student, here’s how to get Apple Music for half price.

Apple regularly offers three months free for new subscribers to Apple Music, so you might want to take that up first. Get three months free here or read How to get Apple Music for free.

The student discount brings the monthly cost of Apple Music membership down from $10.99/£10.99 to $5.99/£5.99, with identical schemes in Ireland, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and Denmark, each offering half off the usual price. And with Apple TV+ bundled in for free, it’s a great deal!

To qualify for the student discount, you’ll need to prove that you’re enrolled at an eligible university or college.

The Student Membership tier is the third membership tier Apple has offered to consumers, alongside Individual Membership ($10.99/£10.99 per month) and Family Membership ($16.99/£16.99). Visit Apple’s site for more details and to sign up.

If you’re a student and signing up for Apple Music on your iPhone or iPad, tap where it says “Are you a University Student?” and you’ll be directed to a verification system. If your college or university is eligible you’ll get a reduced subscription rate. Read our guide to Apple Music.

Apple Inc, Internet

Preparing for student life can be exciting and stressful. To make things easier, it’s good to know that you’ve got the right tech to help you write your essays, take notes in lessons, and kick back with Netflix and games when the work is done. The iPad has evolved in recent years to something that can now act as a laptop replacement for many students, with accessories like the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil making it one of the most versatile devices you can buy. 

Choosing the best iPad can be tricky, as Apple currently offers a wide range of models with different prices and features. But that’s not a problem for Macworld readers. Here’s our guide to buying an iPad for your student days. 

Before you decide, you should also know that you can get money off a new Apple product by shopping in Apple’s education store. In a separate article, you can read all about how to get an Apple Student Discount. Apple offers money off new iPad purchases to students in higher education all year round.

Plus, if you’re a student and you buy an iPad (or a Mac) from Apple, you might be able to get a free gift such as a pair of AirPods or vouchers while the company’s “Back To Uni” event is running. (This usually runs from June to September in the U.S. and Canada, and from July to October in the U.K. and January to March in Australia)

Click on the following links for the Education stores in the countries where most of our readers reside:

• Apple’s U.S. Education Store
• Apple’s U.K. Education Store (in the UK you will need to verify your student status via UNiDAYS).
• Apple’s Canada Education Store
• Apple’s Australian Education Store

If you’re a student, you can also get Apple Music for half price with free Apple TV+ included.

How much can students save on an iPad?

You can save as much as $50 in the U.S., £60 in the U.K., $90 in Australia, and $70 in Canada if you buy from the education store.

Product	U.S.	U.K.	Australia	Canada
iPad (9th gen) MSRP	$329	£369	$549	$449
iPad (9th gen) Student Price	$309	£349	$519	$419
iPad (10th gen) MSRP	$449	£499	$749	$599
iPad (10th gen) Student Price	$419	£469	$699	$559
iPad mini MSRP	$499	£569	$829	$679
iPad mini Student Price	$449	£509	$749	$609
iPad Air MSRP	$599	£669	$999	$799
iPad Air Student Price	$549	£609	$919	$729
iPad Pro 11-inch MSRP	$799	£899	$1,399	$1,099
iPad Pro 11-inch Student Price	$749	£839	$1,309	$1,029

How to get an iPad student discount

Apple offers a student discount via its country-specific education stores. To recap:

• Apple’s U.S. Education Store
• Apple’s U.K. Education Store (in the UK you will need to verify your student status via UNiDAYS).
• Apple’s Canada Education Store
• Apple’s Australian Education Store

Depending on your location you may only need to sign up with details of your student status and course and prove your identity. Some countries have less stringent checks than others. In the U.K. you need to be registered with UNiDAYS in order to even see the student prices. We explain how to do this in our article How to get an Apple student discount.

To qualify for a discount you also need to meet Apple’s conditions. You either need to be a student in higher education, or a teacher at a teaching institution. The only way to get a discount for a child still at school is to be home educating them or to be a teacher yourself.

If you can’t get a student discount that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get money off a new iPad though. Read our round-up of the best iPad deals. You will also find links to the best deals for each iPad below.

Best iPad for students

Should students buy an iPad or a laptop?

Before you go ahead and buy your iPad you may want to consider its suitability for your purpose.

As a student you probably have a few requirements:

• Low price
• Great apps for things like note-taking, recording lectures and revision
• Light enough to carry around all-day
• Keyboard and stylus support
• Suitable for making video calls home

You might be wondering whether a tablet or a laptop would be better for those needs, and if you lean towards the latter, take a look at our guide to the best Macs for students.

We think, however, that an iPad is a great choice. It runs many of the apps you’ll find on a laptop, including Office apps like Word and PowerPoint and the Apple equivalents, and in some cases, an iPad is actually more powerful than a laptop thanks to the super-fast processors Apple uses.

Another benefit is that you can have all the books you need for your course on your iPad and carry them with you to lectures and tutorials. You could even photograph pages from books in the library and use optical character recognition to save the text to your iPad.

Not only do you not need to lug all your books around with you, but an iPad is also far lighter than even the lightest laptop, so you won’t be getting backache from carrying it to lectures and the library.

With battery life of 10 hours–plenty for a day on campus–you aren’t going to need to find a space beside a plug socket in order to get through a day at uni.

Think that having an iPad will mean you have to type on an on-screen keyboard. No! You could sync any Bluetooth keyboard or plug in one of Apple’s own iPad keyboards and effectively turn your iPad into a laptop. There’s also the Apple Pencil, which could come in useful if you wanted to jot down some notes on your iPad screen in a lecture. See Best stylus for iPad.

And when you’ve finished studying there are loads of games, and apps for video calling your parents.

Still not sure? We have more information comparing a MacBook laptop and an iPad.

Are iPads good for students?

The next question you might want some reassurance on is whether the iPad is the best option for a student. There are a lot of other tablets available, many of which are cheaper than an iPad. So you might be thinking of saving some money.

We think if you do so you will regret it. There are many reasons why Apple’s iPads are so popular:

• The App Store is heaving with great apps designed specifically for the iPad.
• Many of those apps will be ideal for students: note-taking apps, apps for converting handwriting to text, apps for recording lectures, timetable management, and of course video calling (so you can stay in touch with mum and dad).
• There is an ecosystem of great accessories designed to work with the iPad.
• Apple’s iPadOS is stable and easy to use, especially if you already have an iPhone.
• If you’ve got a Mac you can use an iPad as a second screen, provided you’re running Big Sur or later. 

Further reading

That’s all of our student-related buying advice, but if you’re buying for someone younger, check out our guide to the best iPad for kids.

iPad