Your Mac and iPad Cost Less Than You Think at Apple's Education Store

Apple sells MacBooks, iPads, and accessories at education pricing that knocks $20 to $400 off depending on the product, and the store is open to every college student, parent of a college student, and educator in the country. The catch? You need to verify your status through UNiDAYS before Apple unlocks those prices, and the annual purchase limits are stricter than most people expect.

I walked through the entire process recently to see how it actually works in 2026, and there are a few things worth knowing before you start adding items to your cart.

How Apple’s Education Store Actually Works

The Education Store lives at apple.com/us-edu/store, which is a completely separate storefront from the main Apple website. You will not see education prices on apple.com until you verify your eligibility and get redirected to the education portal. Think of it as a parallel Apple Store that looks identical but charges less for most Mac and iPad products.

Verification goes through UNiDAYS, and the process takes about five minutes if you have a .edu email address. You create a UNiDAYS account, enter your school, and check your inbox for a confirmation link. Click it, and Apple redirects you back with education pricing already applied. If you do not have a .edu email, UNiDAYS lets you upload a student ID or acceptance letter instead, though that route can take a day or two for manual review.

Here is the part that trips people up: Apple limits how many products you can buy at education prices each year. You get one desktop Mac, one Mac mini, one laptop, two iPads, and two accessories per rolling 12-month window. That is not per academic year. It is 12 months from your first education purchase.

What the Discounts Actually Look Like in March 2026

The savings are not a flat percentage. Apple applies a fixed dollar discount that varies by product tier, and higher-priced machines save you more. The MacBook Neo, which launched on March 11, 2026, starts at $599 but drops to $499 with education pricing. That makes it the cheapest MacBook Apple has ever sold and the second Mac to hit the $499 education price point after the Mac mini M4.

The MacBook Air M4 goes from $1,099 to $999. The MacBook Pro 14-inch with M4 drops from $1,599 to $1,499. Move up to the M4 Pro configurations and the gap widens: the 14-inch M4 Pro saves you $150, and the 16-inch M4 Pro saves $200. The Mac Studio starts around $200 off, and the Mac Pro shaves roughly $400 at the education tier.

iPads save less in raw dollars. The base iPad drops from $349 to $329, which is a $20 discount that barely registers. The iPad Air 11-inch goes from $599 to $549. Where it gets interesting is the iPad Pro 11-inch at $899 instead of $999, a full $100 off. Apple Pencil Pro drops to $119, and Magic Keyboards for iPad see $20 to $50 reductions depending on the model.

The MacBook Neo Changes the Math for Students

Well, here is where it gets really interesting. The MacBook Neo running the A18 Pro chip at $499 education pricing puts a genuine Mac laptop within reach of students who were previously stuck choosing between an iPad and a Chromebook. Why is that worth paying attention to? Because until March 2026, the cheapest way to get a macOS laptop was the MacBook Air at $999 education, and that is still double the Neo’s price.

The trade-off is real, though. The Neo uses an A18 Pro chip from the iPhone 16 Pro instead of an M-series processor, it has two USB-C ports instead of MagSafe plus Thunderbolt, and the base 256GB model does not include Touch ID. You get the lock button instead, which means typing your password every time the screen locks. The 512GB model at $599 education adds Touch ID back, and honestly, that is the one I would point most students toward.

For writing papers, browsing, managing email, running Keynote presentations, and using Safari with a dozen tabs open, the Neo handles it. For Final Cut Pro projects or compiling code in Xcode, you still want a MacBook Air M4 at minimum. Simply put, the Neo is the right Mac for students who need a Mac, not students who need a workstation.

Stacking Discounts: Apple Card and Trade-In

One thing most students miss is that Apple Card Monthly Installments work alongside education pricing. That $499 MacBook Neo becomes $41.58 per month for 12 months at zero percent interest, and you earn 3% Daily Cash on the purchase. You can also stack a device trade-in on top of education pricing, which further reduces your monthly payment or lump sum.

This stacking is not advertised prominently on the education store, but it works. Add the Mac to your cart at education pricing, select Apple Card as your payment method, and the installment option appears automatically. The financing page at apple.com/us-edu/shop/browse/financing confirms the terms.

AppleCare+ also gets a discount for education buyers. The exact percentage varies, but Apple lists “up to 10% off” year-round for Mac and iPad AppleCare+ plans. During the annual Back to School promotion, that discount jumps to 20% off AppleCare+.

The Back to School Promotion Worth Waiting For

Apple runs a separate Back to School promotion every summer that layers on top of education pricing. In 2025, students who bought a qualifying Mac or iPad received free AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, a $179 value. The 2026 promotion is already live in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and South Korea, where qualifying purchases come with a free accessory like AirPods 4, Apple Pencil Pro, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Keyboard.

The US promotion historically launches in mid-June and runs through late September. Based on the 2026 international promotion, the US version will likely follow the free accessories format rather than the gift card approach Apple used in 2024. If you can wait until June, you could get a $499 MacBook Neo plus free AirPods 4, which is genuinely hard to beat.

What the Education Store Does Not Cover

I think this is the part Apple could be more transparent about. The Education Store covers Mac, iPad, select accessories, and AppleCare+. It does not cover iPhone, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod, or AirPods outside of the seasonal Back to School free accessory promotion.

Apple Music does offer a student subscription at $5.99 per month instead of $11.99, which includes free Apple TV+ for up to 48 months. That is a separate program verified through UNiDAYS independently from the hardware Education Store, and it is worth setting up even if you never buy a Mac at education pricing.

For students at schools with Apple Distinguished School status, there may be additional institutional pricing or device programs through the school’s IT department. Those programs are separate from the consumer Education Store and usually offer deeper discounts on bulk orders, but the savings depend entirely on what your school has negotiated.

Quick-Action Checklist

1. Go to apple.com/us-edu/store and click “Verify with UNiDAYS.”
2. Enter your school email or upload a student ID if you do not have a .edu address.
3. Once verified, browse Mac and iPad products at education pricing.
4. Check whether your school has an Apple Distinguished School program for additional savings.
5. If you have an Apple Card, select Apple Card Monthly Installments at checkout for 0% APR financing.
6. Consider waiting until mid-June for the US Back to School promotion if you want free AirPods or accessories with your purchase.
7. Review your annual limits: one desktop, one Mac mini, one laptop, two iPads, and two accessories per 12-month rolling window.