Can't Shear: American Apple Education Discount will be validated

Apple has plugged a loophole in the U.S. that allows buyers to exploit the price of its education, even if they are not actually students or teachers. As one Redditor noted, the Apple Store in the U.S. now requires buyers to verify their identity through UNiDAYS in order to be able to purchase MacBooks, iPads and other devices from its educational portal. The tech giant's education discounts are typically deducted 10% from the original retail price of the device. It is intended for current and newly admitted college students, as well as faculty and staff in any grade level.

This change occurred sometime in the last few days, and according to Wayback Machine's snapshot, the verification requirements for UNiDAYS are not shown even in the latest record on January 17. Prior to this change, Apple did not require its customers in the United States to verify their identities, unlike its stores in other parts of the United Kingdom that have long required UNiDAYS certification. It didn't even ask for an email address for .edu. The company only occasionally checks customers at random and debits their credit cards if it determines they are not truly eligible for an education discount.

Now, when buyers go to Apple Education's website, they can't even see the list of devices. They must first click to the Apple Partner page at UNiDAYS, where they need to log in or register for verification. Once they're in, they can buy what they want, as long as it's within the device limits of the promotion. Buyers can only get discounts per year for one desktop, one Mac mini, one laptop, two iPads, and two accessories.

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