How do online students discounts work?

March 10, 2023 11:14 AM

I am staff at a university, so don't technically qualify for most student/teacher discounts. However! One of my employee benefits is taking classes for $5 a credit. Before I go to all this hassle, will registering for a single credit qualify me as a "student" for purposes of discounts with online retailers? Do I need to do it every semester? Do I need to take a class in summer too? How does this work?
posted by HotToddy to Shopping (6 answers total)

If you have an @edu email account, it doesn’t even matter if you’re a staff or student, you’ll get the discount at 90% of places. If you have a student id with a photo (especially if it’s a local organization) you’ll also get most in person student discounts
posted by raccoon409 at 11:19 AM on March 10, 2023 [16 favorites]

It entirely depends on the retailer. My Pandora account just wanted me to be about to verify a .edu email address (alas, Pandora student is only five years, less time than my phd, lol). Either ID.me or govX, I don't remember which, wanted an ID. Some want copies of schedules. It just depends on the discount you're trying to get.
posted by joycehealy at 11:26 AM on March 10, 2023

Agree with the others. Most just "verify" by seeing if you have an .edu address.

More to your point, if you are earning credits, I would say you can call yourself a student (you are) without guilt.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 11:29 AM on March 10, 2023

Response by poster: Yeah, it seems that SheerID wants to see your active registration, and the discounts I'm interested in use that service. But also, now that I'm looking more closely, it seems that the additional bullshit fees that I would be required to pay at my institution would offset my use of the discount, especially if I have to register every semester plus summer. If anyone has personal experience with coming out ahead on this, I would love to hear it.
posted by HotToddy at 11:30 AM on March 10, 2023

Yeah, there is one centralized place that many organizations are starting to use, and they want to see some proof of current-term enrollment.

Places that don't subscribe there often don't have very tough standards -- and the .edu address might be enough. But for good discounts, a lot of them are making you work for it! And I am not sure how any of these deal with summer vacation. :7)

So that single-credit "enrolled student" status is probably worth getting, if you can find a discount that offsets the Activity Fee, Registration Fee, Bursar's Surcharge, etc., etc.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:38 AM on March 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

Some places do ask to see a full schedule, because their discounts are only for full time students. It’s a good idea to find out if the discounts you are interested in work with part-time status.
posted by nat at 1:39 AM on March 11, 2023 [1 favorite]