Image: Apple
Apple has introduced a new verification process in the US to ensure that customers who want to benefit from its discounted education pricing are actually involved in education. It’s not clear exactly when its policy changed, but at some point this month, some Reddit users noticed that Apple’s education pricing page was updated to note that customers will now be checked by Unidays, a third-party verification service.
As well as requiring Unidays, Apple is also placing new limits on how many items you can buy with an educational discount. Apple Track reports that users are limited to one desktop computer, one Mac mini, one laptop, two iPads, and two accessories per year. Given that’s more than any student, teacher, or educational staff member is likely to purchase for themselves in a given year, the limit seems to be in place to stop them from acting as an illicit discount broker for all their non-education friends.
Requiring Unidays verification matches a similar process Apple already uses in some countries like the UK. Interestingly, as of this writing, Apple’s Canada store is yet to be updated to mention Unidays, MacRumors notes.
Although the change removes a loophole that was previously ridiculously easy to exploit (apparently Apple didn’t even require customers to have an .edu email address) there’s surprisingly little outcry over on Reddit, with some pointing out that Apple’s first-party discounts are often beaten by third-party retailers during back to school season. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a good deal on a MacBook, we’ve got a page dedicated to that exact purpose right here.