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How to Get Apple Student Discount – Student or Not (2026 Guide)
Apple doesn’t exactly shout about its education pricing. There’s no banner on the homepage, no pop-up telling you it exists — you have to know where to look. I’ve been pointing readers to it for years, and the process has actually changed quite a bit recently, so I’ve gone through and updated everything here to match what’s live on Apple’s UK site right now.
Quick answer: you get Apple student discount by verifying your student status through UNiDAYS, then shopping through Apple’s Education Store. It’s free to do, it takes a few minutes, and it now covers more than just Macs and iPads.
How to Get Apple Student Discount – Step by Step
- Go to Apple’s UK Education Store.
- Click through to verify your eligibility — Apple routes this through UNiDAYS, which is the only verification partner it accepts in the UK.
- Create a UNiDAYS account with your university or college email address (or student ID if you don’t have one).
- Once verified, you’re taken back to the Apple Education Store, where discounted pricing is applied automatically — you don’t need a separate voucher code.
- Shop as normal. Your student pricing stays active for as long as your UNiDAYS status is verified.
That’s genuinely it. No queuing, no calling Apple, no printing anything off.
How to Get Apple Student Discount – Step by Step
- Go to Apple’s UK Education Store.
- Click through to verify your eligibility — Apple routes this through UNiDAYS, which is the only verification partner it accepts in the UK.
- Create a UNiDAYS account with your university or college email address (or student ID if you don’t have one).
- Once verified, you’re taken back to the Apple Education Store, where discounted pricing is applied automatically — you don’t need a separate voucher code.
- Shop as normal. Your student pricing stays active for as long as your UNiDAYS status is verified.
- That’s genuinely it. No queuing, no calling Apple, no printing anything off.
How Much Can You Save With Apple Student Discount?
Education pricing isn’t a flat percentage off everything — it varies by product, and Apple widened what’s covered this year. Here’s what’s currently discounted for students in the UK:
- Mac – education pricing is applied directly to the price, with the MacBook Air currently starting from £999 and MacBook Pro from £1,599 through the Education Store
- iPad – discounted pricing across the range, iPad from £309, iPad Air from £549
- Apple Watch – newly added to education pricing this year, with Apple Watch SE 3 from £199 and Apple Watch Series 11 from £329
- AppleCare+ – up to 10% off for Mac and iPad
- Apple Music Student Plan – roughly half the standard price, and it now includes Apple TV+ at no extra cost
- Apple Creator Studio – £2.99 a month for verified students and educators, bundling Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and Pixelmator Pro
Worth knowing before you buy: Apple raised prices across Mac, iPad and its education pricing in late June 2026, so if an old screenshot or forum post you’ve seen quotes a lower price, that’s why. Always check the live price on the Education Store rather than relying on a number from last year — mine included.
Who Qualifies for Apple Education Pricing?
You don’t have to be a university student yourself. Apple’s education discount is open to:
- Current and newly accepted higher education students (university or college)
- Parents buying a device for a higher education student
- Teachers and staff at any education level, including homeschool educators
- Postgraduates and PhD students
It’s not available to parents buying for school-age children who aren’t in higher education themselves — that’s a distinction Apple is fairly strict on.
I Don’t Have a UNiDAYS Account — Can I Use My NUS or TOTUM Card Instead?
Older advice (including, I’ll admit, an earlier version of this post) will tell you an NUS or TOTUM card gets you the Apple discount too. That’s no longer true. UNiDAYS doesn’t accept NUS or TOTUM cards as proof of student status, because the two organisations verify eligibility differently, and Apple’s UK Education Store now only recognises UNiDAYS verification. If you’ve got a TOTUM card but not a university email, it won’t unlock the Apple discount on its own.
The workaround people have used for years — signing up to a low-cost online course through a provider that offers NUS/TOTUM eligibility — technically gets you a TOTUM card, but you’ll still need to register that eligibility with UNiDAYS separately for it to work on Apple’s store. It’s an extra step, and providers offering this have changed hands more than once, so double-check current terms before you pay for a course purely to chase the discount.
Not a Student? Here’s How You Can Still Get the Discount
You genuinely don’t need to be enrolled anywhere to benefit here:
- Ask a family member or friend in higher education to buy on your behalf — Apple doesn’t restrict who receives the device, only who’s verified as eligible.
- Check your own employer. Plenty of companies run staff discount schemes with Apple as a partner — worth a quick check with HR before you assume you’re not eligible for anything.
- NHS and healthcare staff can access separate Apple discounts through schemes like Health Service Discounts, outside of the education route entirely.
- Sign up as a homeschool parent or educator, if that applies to you — Apple explicitly includes homeschool educators in its education eligibility.
Stack Your Savings: Trade-In and Refurbished
Two ways to bring the price down further, on top of education pricing:
Trade-in. Apple’s trade-in scheme accepts your old device — including non-Apple ones — for credit towards a new purchase, or an Apple Gift Card if you’re not buying immediately. Value depends on the condition, age and model of what you’re trading in, and you’ll need to be 18 or over to trade in for credit.
Refurbished Apple Store. If you’re not fussed about having the newest model, the Certified Refurbished store is worth checking before you buy new — refurbished devices go through full functional testing, get any worn parts replaced with genuine Apple components, come in fresh packaging with all original accessories, and carry the same one-year warranty as new. Savings here are usually bigger than education pricing alone, and you can often combine the two.
When’s the Best Time to Buy?
Apple runs a Back to School promotion most years, usually landing sometime between mid-July and September in the UK, on top of the year-round education pricing. In past years it’s included a free accessory — AirPods or an Apple Pencil — with a qualifying Mac or iPad purchase, though Apple hadn’t confirmed the 2026 UK dates at the time of writing, so I’d check the Education Store directly before assuming it’s live.
It’s also worth glancing at general retail sales like Prime Day before you commit — the education discount is generous, but it isn’t always the single cheapest price available on a given day, especially on older Mac models.
FAQs
Is Apple student discount worth it? Yes, if you’re buying a Mac, iPad or now an Apple Watch — it’s one of the few genuine, no-catch discounts Apple offers, with no minimum spend and no expiry beyond your verified status.
Does Apple student discount apply to iPhone? No. iPhone isn’t included in UK education pricing, and hasn’t been for years, despite it coming up as one of the most common assumptions.
How long does UNiDAYS verification last? For as long as you’re enrolled and your student email or ID remains valid — you may be asked to re-verify periodically.
Can I use Apple student discount more than once? Yes, but Apple caps how many of each product category you can buy per academic year through the Education Store.
I’ve been running Money Saving Girl since 2012 and update this guide whenever Apple changes its education pricing or verification process — last checked against Apple’s UK Education Store on 15th of July 2026 (originally published in Nov-2020).