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Apple tightens restrictions and adds purchase limits on education discount

The tech giant is requiring consumers to register with a third-party portal to verify their status as a student or educator.

Dan Avery Former Writer
Dan was a writer on CNET's How-To and Thought Leadership teams. His byline has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, NBC News, Architectural Digest and elsewhere. He is a crossword junkie and is interested in the intersection of tech and marginalized communities.
Expertise Personal finance, government and policy, consumer affairs
Dan Avery
Apple MacBooks

There are new limits to how many Apple products you can get with an education discount.

CNET

Apple is making it harder for consumers to take advantage of its discounted education pricing, which traditionally knocks 10% off the price of many Apple products for college students and educators at all levels.

To qualify now, according to the Apple website, users have to register with a third-party site, Unidays, which will verify their status as a student or faculty member.

The Cupertino, California-based company is also putting a cap on how much you can buy with the discount, Apple Track reports, with customers limited to one desktop computer, one Mac Mini, one notebook computer, two iPads and two accessories per year.

In the past, education pricing was available to students and their parents, school faculty and homeschool instructors with little verification, which left the door open to misuse.

The new policy puts Apple customers in the US on par with those in the UK and India, which already require verification through Unidays.