Welcome to The Logoff: Today, I’m focusing on the Trump administration’s decision to withhold nearly $7 billion in federal education funding.

What just happened? The Trump administration refused to release congressionally mandated funding to support a variety of education initiatives: after-school and summer programs, programs for students who are learning English, teacher training, classroom technology, and more.

The nearly $7 billion was allocated to states and local schools, and should have gone out on Tuesday. Its loss will be particularly harmful because school districts have already made plans with the assumption that the money would be there, only to have it pulled at the last minute.

What is the administration saying? The Trump administration argues the withholding isn’t a freeze and is instead because the funds are under review. But this argument is likely a fig leaf, given the administration’s opposition to the programs in question and its previous efforts to withhold funding for programs it disagrees with. What the administration appears to be doing is called impoundment — the decision not to spend money that Congress has already appropriated for a specific purpose.

Can they do that? Not really — but we’ll see how the courts rule, since the administration’s decision is almost certain to be challenged in court. Though the president can request Congress withdraw funding — and making that request would trigger a temporary freeze — the administration hasn’t done so in this case.

What’s the big picture here? The Trump administration is waging a war against the congressional power of the purse, led by Office of Management and Budget director Russ Vought (of Project 2025 fame).

The decision to withhold education funding is one of a number of efforts to wrest spending power from Congress, and recent reporting suggests the administration is considering ways to step up its attack and challenge restrictions on impoundment more broadly. If it’s successful, it will be a major expansion of Trump’s powers — and another blow to Congress’s.

And with that, it’s time to log off…

I absolutely loved this story from my colleague Bryan Walsh about the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, which just last month shared its first images of the cosmos. The telescope itself is a scientific marvel that has already provided useful data to researchers, but, as Bryan points out, it’s also the “ultimate perspective provider,” a reminder of our place in a vast, beautiful universe. I hope you enjoy his piece — and the photos — as much as I did, and I’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Ripple has pledged $25 million in its RLUSD stablecoin to support US education through nonprofit organizations DonorsChoose and Teach For America.

The contribution, revealed on May 5, aims to support teachers, fund classroom projects, and expand access to essential academic resources for underserved communities across the United States.

This initiative comes at a time when concerns about the quality of education are growing. A 2024 Gallup survey found that more than half of US adults expressed dissatisfaction with K-12 education.

Ripple’s donation seeks to help close that gap by funding critical needs inside classrooms and providing extra academic support for students.

According to Ripple, the funds will be used to fulfill teacher requests, purchase supplies, and expand tutoring programs like Teach For America’s Ignite. The company also plans to support a nationwide STEM challenge to nurture innovation and problem-solving skills among young learners.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said:

“We hope to inspire others to do the same, starting with Teacher Appreciation Week, and leading into the rest of the year to support students and teachers with the resources they need to build a stronger future for themselves and their communities.”

RLUSD’s utility meets social impact

A notable aspect of the donation is that a large portion would be disbursed in RLUSD, Ripple’s stablecoin. Based on CryptoSlate data, RLUSD currently has a market cap of over $316 million.

According to the firm, the stablecoin donation highlights the growing utility of digital assets in charitable giving, as they provide a fast and efficient channel for delivering impact where it’s needed most.

Earlier this year, Ripple contributed $50,000 in RLUSD to support wildfire response efforts in California. The funds were directed to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation to aid first responders in protecting communities.

These efforts align with Ripple’s broader social impact strategy, Ripple Impact. Since 2018, the company has contributed over $200 million to humanitarian efforts, educational initiatives, and blockchain training programs in over 80 countries.

Students, teachers, and those who work for an educational institution can save money on a new Mac, MacBook, or iPad by shopping at the Apple Education Store, which offers discounts all year round.

In this article, we will explain how much the Apple education discount is and who qualifies for an Apple student discount, before explaining how to get an Apple student discount at the Apple Education Store. Click the link below to go to Apple’s education storefront in your country:

What products does Apple discount for students?

The discounts are only available for iPads, MacBooks and Macs.

Education discounts are not available on the iPhone, Apple TV, Apple Watch, HomePods, accessories, or software (Adobe and Microsoft both offer student discounts though).

AirPods aren’t discounted for students either, but Apple has been known to give away AirPods as part of a student-focused deal during the back-to-school buying season (between June and October in the northern hemisphere and between January and March in the southern hemisphere). For example, between January-March 2025 students in Australia and other southern hemisphere locations could claim free AirPods with Mac purchases and free Apple Pencils with iPad purchases.

Apple’s Back To School offer will start in June 2025 in the U.S. and in July 2025 in the U.K. and Europe, and students will either be offered AirPods or Pencils, as their Australian counterparts were, or they will be able to get vouchers with qualifying purchases until mid-September or October respectively.

Students can also get Apple Music for half price with free Apple TV+ included.

How much is the Apple student discount?

Apple doesn’t offer a single, universal discount to students. It sets different prices for each product range.

Students can save up to $200/£220 on Macs and up to $100/£100 on iPads.

Here’s how the iPad MSRP compares to the student price:

Here’s how the Mac and MacBook MSRP compares to the student price:

MacBook student discounts

Below are the discounts on the base model Macs, there are bigger discounts on the more expensive models.

How much can students save on the 13-inch MacBook Air, M4?

MSRP: $999 / £999 / AU$1,599 / CA$1,299
Student: $899 / £899 / AU$1,439 / CA$1,169

Students save: $100 / £100 / AU$160 / CA$130

How much can students save on the 15-inch MacBook Air, M4?

MSRP: $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,099 / CA$1,699
Student: $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,949 / CA$1,549

Students save: $100 / £100 / AU$150 / CA$150

How much can students save on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, M4?

MSRP: $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,499 / CA$2,099
Student: $1,499 / £1,499 / AU$2,349 / CA$1,969

Students save: $100 / £100 / AU$150 / CA$130

How much can students save on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, M4 Pro?

MSRP: $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,299 / CA$2,699
Student: $1,849 / £1,849 / AU$3,069 / CA$2,509

Students save: $150 / £150 / AU$230 / CA$190

How much can students save on the 16-inch MacBook Pro, M4 Pro?

MSRP: $2,499 / £2,499 / AU$3,999 / CA$3,299
Student: $2,299 / £2,299 / AU$3,699 / CA$3,049

Students save: $200 / £200 / AU$300 / CA$250

How much can students save on the Mac mini, M4 Pro?

MSRP: $1,399 / £1,399 / AU$2,199 / CA$1,899
Student: $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,049 / CA$1,769

Students save: $100 / £100 / AU$150 / CA$130

How much can students save on the Mac mini, M4?

MSRP: $599 / £599 / AU$999 / CA$799
Student: $499 / £499 / AU$829 / CA$669

Students save: $100 / £110 / AU$170 / CA$130

How much can students save on the iMac M4?

MSRP: $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$1,999 / CA$1,699
Student discount: $1,249 / £1,249 / AU$1,919 / CA$1,629

Students save: $50 / £50 / AU$80 / CA$70

Get the student discount at:

Apple’s U.S. Education Store
Apple’s U.K. Education Store (in the UK you will need to verify your student status via UNiDAYS).
Apple’s Canada Education Store
Apple’s Australian Education Store

You may be able to get better discounts if you shop elsewhere. We round up the best MacBook Pro deals, the best MacBook Air deals, the best iMac deals, and the best Mac mini deals.

We also have a guide to the best Mac for students that you might find useful.

iPad student discounts

Below are the discounts on the base model iPads, there are bigger discounts on the more expensive models.

How much can students save on the iPad mini (A17 Pro)?

MSRP: $499 / £499 / AU$799 / CA$679
Students: $449 / £449 / AU$719 / CA $609

Students save: $50 / £50 / AU$80 / CA$70

How much can students save on the iPad (A16)?

MSRP: $349 / £329 / AU$599 / CA$499
Students; $329 / £309 / AU$559 / CA$469

Students save: $20 / £20 / AU$40 / CA$30

How much can students save on the 11-inch iPad Air (M3)?

MSRP: $599 / £599 / AU$999 / CA$799
Student: $549 / £549 / AU$919 / CA$729

Students save: $50 / £50 / AU$80 / CA$70

How much can students save on the 11-inch iPad Pro (M4)?

MSRP: $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 / CA$1,399
Students: $899 / £899 / AU$1,529 / CA$1,249

Students save: $100 / £100 / AU$170 / CA$150

Get the student discount at:

Apple’s U.S. Education Store
Apple’s U.K. Education Store (in the U.K. you will need to verify your student status via UNiDAYS).
Apple’s Canada Education Store
Apple’s Australian Education Store

You may find a better deal or discount if you check out our deals round-ups: best iPad Air deals, best iPad mini deals, best iPad 10.2in deals, and the best iPad Pro deals.

If you’re thinking of buying an iPad for college or university you also might like to read our guide to the Best iPad for students.

Who can get an Apple student discount?

Now we have told you how much you can save, the big question is whether you can save anything at all. Do you qualify for Apple’s student discounts?

In order to shop at Apple’s Education Stores and take advantage of the lower prices you need to qualify as a student or work in an education institution.

If you were hoping that you could get a discount for the Mac you want to buy your 13-year-old the bad news is that you can’t, unless you are employed by the school and buying for the institution, or you are a home educator. Students in high school don’t qualify for this discount.

There are three types of people who can qualify for a student discount:

• Students in higher education (post-secondary education, e.g. university, college).
• People who are buying for education institutions.
• Parents of higher education students buying on their behalf.
• Home-based educators.

Apple spells this out in more detail in its terms and conditions.

For the U.S. these state that the following groups are “eligible to purchase from the Apple Store for Education:”

• K-12 staff: Any employee of a public or private K-12 institution in the United States is eligible, including homeschool teachers (this doesn’t include people educating their children during lockdowns). In addition, school board members who are currently serving as elected or appointed members are eligible. PTA or PTO executives currently serving as elected or appointed officers are eligible.
• Higher education staff and students: Faculty and staff of higher educational institutions in the U.S.; and students attending, or accepted into a higher educational institution in the U.S. are eligible to purchase. Purchases from the Apple Store for Education Individuals are not for institutional purchase or resale.
• Higher education parents: Parents purchasing on behalf of their child, who is a student currently attending or accepted into a public or private higher educational institution in the U.S. are eligible to purchase.

Apple has a similar set of terms and conditions for eligibility in the U.K.:

• Employees of any education institution: Any employee of a public or private education institution in the U.K.
• Post-secondary education students: Students attending or accepted into a post-secondary education institution in the U.K.
• Parents of post-secondary students: Parents purchasing on behalf of their child, who is a student currently attending or accepted into a public or private post-secondary education institution in the U.K.

If you’re attending higher education, or have been accepted into a higher education/post-secondary institution, you qualify for an Apple discount. (In the U.K. post-secondary means university, or any other formal education that takes place after secondary education is complete. Therefore, this excludes sixth-form colleges, although it may be worth inquiring at an Apple Store to see if the company is prepared to relax the rules.)

Parents of post-secondary/higher education students do not qualify when buying for themselves, but they can pick up a discounted Mac for their child from the education store.

Anybody who works in an educational environment qualifies for a discount on certain Apple products. It’s not just limited to teachers and lecturers but also covers administrative workers and other staff members. Essentially, it’s anybody who works at or for a school, college, or university. (This is not limited to post-secondary institutions. Apple refers to “any education institution.”)

This does mean that you can’t get a discount for a Mac or iPad for your child who is currently at school, although the school could make the purchase and provide the equipment for students.

If you don’t qualify for an Apple Education Store discount, we’d recommend instead checking out the Apple Refurbished Store, which offers discounts for everyone. You can’t apply a student discount in Apple’s Refurbished Store. We also recommend that you check our round-ups of the latest and best Apple deals we find at various Apple resellers.

How many products can I buy?

According to this Sales Policy document (or here) on the U.S. Apple site and the same on the U.K. Apple Education site, students can purchase the following with education pricing:

• Desktop Mac: One may be purchased per year
• Laptop Mac: One may be purchased per year
• iPad: Two may be purchased per year
• Accessories: Two accessories with Education Pricing may be purchased per year

How to get a student discount at Apple

Having established that you qualify for an education discount, how can you get money off at Apple?

You may think that all you need to do is visit the Apple Store for Education and you will find the products you want at a lower price. However, before you can access Apple’s Education Store you will need to verify that you are a student or that you qualify in another way (e.g. you work in a school or college). Different countries have different sequences of steps to go through, which we will run through below. 

How to get an Apple student discount in the U.S.

If you are a student in the U.S. it is quite easy to get an Education discount at the U.S. Apple Store–in fact, a loophole may mean it is possible to get a student discount without any proof that you are a student. If you are a student you should follow these steps:

1. Visit Apple’s U.S. Education Store.
2. Choose the Mac or iPad you want and click on your selection.
3. Once you have customized your Apple product, click Continue.
4. Enter your delivery details and check out.
5. Beware that Apple can request to see evidence that you are a student at any point during or after the purchase and will charge an additional fee if you fail to provide it.

If you have any problems, we recommend you get your student status verified with UNiDAYS or log on from your university network. Make sure you have quick access to some form of official identification that proves you qualify for the education discount. Your student ID is a good choice.

In January 2022, Apple changed the U.S. Education Discount Store to require validation from UNiDAYS before students can get a discount, but it then removed the requirement. Apple could re-implement this validation step that students in other countries have to go through. If it does it may still be possible for non-students in the U.S. to avoid the validation step, as per this Reddit post.

Canadian students can follow the same steps as the U.S. Start shopping at Apple’s Canada Education Store.

How to get an Apple student discount in the U.K.

U.K. students will need to register with UNiDAYS before they can get a discount from the Apple Education Store.

1. Visit Apple’s U.K. Education Store to access the Apple Education site.
2. Once there you’ll be encouraged to sign up on the student discount website UNiDAYS. You can also use the alternative service Student Beans to register for Apple’s educational discounts.
3. On whichever site you use, you’ll need to provide your email address and a password, your name, institution, subject of study, years of study, and course length.
4. Once you have completed the registration process and signed in you will be able to access Apple’s student discounts.

If you don’t want to register via a verification site, you can also call Apple, use Apple’s Chat online feature, or visit an Apple Store. The staff there will guide you through the process.

How to get an Apple student discount in Australia or Canada

1. Visit Apple’s Australian Education Store or Apple’s Canada Education Store.
2. It’s usually best to log on from your university network if you can.
3. You will also want to make sure you have quick access to some form of official identification that proves you qualify for the education discount. Your student ID is a good choice.
4. However, you may find you don’t actually require any sort of login or ID to order from the Apple Education Store–but beware that Apple can request to see evidence that you are a student at any point during or after the purchase and will charge an additional fee if you fail to provide it.

How to buy Apple products for an education institution

If you have been tasked with buying new Macs or iPads for a school, college, or university then Apple has a different store for you. This store is designed for those who are buying a Mac for an educational institution (for students to work on rather than for individual students to own).

1. You should visit the U.S. Apple Store for Education Institutions (if that link doesn’t work), the U.K. Apple Store for Education Institutions (if that link doesn’t work), or the Canadian or Australian equivalent.
2. You’ll need to search for your Educational Institution: enter your institution’s details and click on search. 
3. If your institution is found you will be able to sign in to access your institution’s store.
4. You may still need to register before you can use the store.
5. If your school, college, or other institution isn’t found then you may need to call Apple to discuss registering your school.

How to get a student discount for Apple Music and Apple TV+

Apple’s student membership scheme for Apple Music offers those in full-time education a 50 percent subscription discount and this deal is better than ever right now because the Student Apple Music deal also includes Apple TV+ for a limited time (following a 2023 price hike Apple TV+ now costs $9.99/£8.99 a month, up from $6.99/£6.99 per month). If you are a student, here’s how to get Apple Music for half price.

Apple regularly offers three months free for new subscribers to Apple Music, so you might want to take that up first. Get three months free here or read How to get Apple Music for free.

The student discount brings the monthly cost of Apple Music membership down from $10.99/£10.99 to $5.99/£5.99, with identical schemes in Ireland, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and Denmark, each offering half off the usual price. And with Apple TV+ bundled in for free, it’s a great deal!

To qualify for the student discount, you’ll need to prove that you’re enrolled at an eligible university or college. The discount runs for up to 48 months (four years).

The Student Membership tier is the third membership tier Apple has offered to consumers, alongside Individual Membership ($10.99/£10.99 per month) and Family Membership ($16.99/£16.99). Visit Apple’s site for more details and to sign up.

If you’re a student and signing up for Apple Music on your iPhone or iPad, tap where it says “Are you a University Student?” and you’ll be directed to a verification system. If your college or university is eligible you’ll get a reduced subscription rate. Read our guide to Apple Music and How to get Apple Music for free for the best trial options.