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Apple Launches 2023 Back to School Offer for Students: Up to $150 Gift Card With Mac or iPad

Apple this week launched its annual Back to School promotion for U.S. college students. This year's promotion offers a free Apple gift card with the purchase of an eligible Mac or iPad. Apple is also offering students 20% off AppleCare+ plans.

2022 back to school apple feature
Apple is offering a $150 gift card with any new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or iMac, and a $100 gift card with the purchase of any new iPad Pro, iPad Air, or Mac mini. The gift card can be used towards purchases of Apple products and accessories, App Store apps, subscriptions to services like Apple Music, iCloud+ storage, and more.

The promotion runs through Monday, October 2 in the U.S., according to Apple's terms and conditions. The free gift card is in addition to Apple's standard educational discounts of around 5% to 10% off most Macs and iPads.

The offer is available through Apple's online education store and at Apple Store locations for students attending or accepted to a higher-education institution, faculty and staff of higher-education institutions, parents purchasing on behalf of an eligible student, employees of a K-12 institution, and select others.

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Top Rated Comments

klasma Avatar
40 months ago
Buy 25 MacBooks and get a Vision Pro for free!
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
40 months ago
I bought a 15 inch Air for my wife.

$100 off for Education discount
$150 gift card
$395 iPad Pro 3rd Gen trade in

Ended up paying $654 for a brand new 15” Air. Solid.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleTO Avatar
40 months ago
Hmm? Isn’t it normally offered in Canada at the same time? That’s odd.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
40 months ago

If it’s the same as last year, then it’s confusing as heck. At least it is for me. I did the Apple Card installments on my Air, and I had to pay for the free gift card in installments. I don’t see how it is a free gift card if you have to pay for it.

Edit: I had to look it up to figure it out again. They take the $150 off the price of the MacBook Air and then charge you $150 for the gift card. I don’t know why they do it that way, but it comes out to you getting a free gift card in a really confusing way.

Maybe this is so if you return the MacBook Air you have to return a gift card too? I’m sure they have a reason to do it this way.
It's so that if you only return the MacBook Air, you'll still be charged for the gift card.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
40 months ago
As expected it is a gift card. Also the 20% on AppleCare is good.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
40 months ago

So you can apply the $150 gift card (obtained by purchasing the Air) to the purchase of the Air?
No, you can't. The gift card isn't sent until the device is shipped. But, I will use that $150 to pay for my Apple One sub, or something else over the next few months. Either way, the savings are priced in.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)