Learn how to grab Apple’s limited-time offer for university students, teachers, and employees to get a pair of AirPods for free.
Great news! Thanks to Apple’s Back to School promotion, college students can grab a pair of AirPods for free when they buy a qualifying Mac or iPad!
Yet, not everyone understands how the promotion works, causing those who qualify, including teachers and staff, to miss out on a great opportunity to get free AirPods.
In this article, we’ll explain exactly how you can avail of Apple’s offer. We’ll also show you who qualifies for free AirPods and provide details on other discounts with the Back to School program. This is a fantastic deal you wouldn’t want to miss.
Let’s dive right in!
How to Get Free AirPods From Apple
Every year, Apple comes out with a promotional program known as ‘Back to School’ where it offers discounts on certain products to higher education students and other qualified buyers to mark the start of the academic year.
In addition to special prices, Apple offers AirPods for free when users buy qualifying products.
Apple markets this as a promotion discount and not as a gift. When you buy an eligible Macbook or iPad, you get a discount on AirPods at the time of checkout. The discount amount is the exact price of 2nd generation AirPods.
Follow these steps to get free AirPods with Apple’s Back to School program:
- Go to the Apple Education Store Home page and choose a product you wish to buy. Make sure it is a Qualifying Purchase. If you’re unsure, check out the list of eligible products below.
Apple Education Store Home Page - On the next page, customize your device’s colors, storage, size, and other features, and click Continue.
Customizing a device by colors, storage, size, and other features. (From Youtube/iGeeksBlog) - This opens a new web page titled Choose your AirPods. For free AirPods, select AirPods (2nd generation) and click on Add to Bag. Alternatively, you can choose AirPods (3rd generation) with Lightning charging case, AirPods (3rd generation) with MagSafe charging case, and AirPods Pro (2nd generation) if you wish to upgrade at a discount.
Choosing 2nd generation AirPods (From Youtube/iGeeksBlog) - Next, click on Review Bag. Doing so takes you to a page displaying the contents of your bag. You can scroll down to your AirPods and select Add free engraving to emboss a customized text on your charging case.
- Finally, click on Check Out. On the next page, provide the relevant payment and delivery information, and purchase your Apple device with free AirPods.
Which Apple products are eligible for free AirPods?
As mentioned earlier, the free AirPods offer is available only on certain Macs and iPads. We’ve listed them below for reference:
- Any iMac 24”
- Macbook Pro 13-inch with M2 chip
- Macbook Pro 14-inch with M2 Pro chip
- Macbook Pro 14-inch with M2 Max chip
- Macbook Pro 16-inch with M2 Pro chip
- Macbook Pro 16-inch with M2 Max chip
- Macbook Air with M1 chip
- Macbook Air with M2 chip
- iPad Air
- iPad Pro 11-inch
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch
What Is the Apple Back to School Promotion?
Apple has a long history of offering discounts to students and educators. Going back to 2006, the company would provide rebates to University students, teachers, and faculty who bought a Mac and an iPod. In essence, qualified buyers could pick up an iPod for free.
Apple continued to offer this mail-in rebate promotion in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.
The company officially launched the Back to School promotion in 2011, offering a $100 Back to School gift card to an eligible buyer purchasing a qualifying Mac. The promotion has continued over the years with tweaks in the exact nature of the offer with every iteration.
Other than AirPods, what does Apple’s Back to School program offer?
The 2023 Back to School promotion offers discounts on various devices, including Macs, iPads, monitors, and processors.
The exact amount varies based on your region. For example, in Australia, you receive a flat 150 Australian Dollars off your device, whereas, in the U.S., you get $100 off.
All the “eligible devices” mentioned in the previous section are available at a discount. Interested buyers can also purchase the following products at slashed rates:
- Mac mini
- Mac Studio
- Studio Display
- Pro Display XDR
- Mac Pro
- iPad (10th generation)
- iPad (9th generation)
- iPad mini
You can also get AppleCare+ at 20% off and avail discounts on accessories like the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil.
Apple’s Back to School Promotion – Frequently Asked Questions
We understand you may have more questions regarding Apple’s Back to School promotion. We’ve put together a list of FAQs to help answer some common queries regarding who is eligible and the regions where the deal is available.
Check out the FAQs below:
- Who is eligible for the Apple Back to School promotion?
- Which countries are eligible for the Back to School promotion?
- Where can you take advantage of the promotion?
- When is Apple’s Back to School promotion available?
Who is eligible for the Apple Back to School promotion?
Current and newly-enrolled students in private and public universities, parents purchasing for eligible students, homeschool teachers, and staff at higher educational institutions are eligible for the promotion.
Students (or their parents) who are not yet in college do not qualify. However, school-level educators and employees can avail the promotion. This also includes homeschooling teachers.
Which countries are eligible for the Back to School promotion?
Here’s a list of countries eligible for the Back to School promotion:
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Brazil
- United States of America
- South Korea
- Mexico
- United Kingdom
- Ireland
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Spain
- Austria
- Denmark
- Finland
- Norway
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Belgium
- Poland
- Portugal
- Czech Republic
- Netherlands
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates
- Hong Kong
- China
- India
Where can you take advantage of the promotion?
You can head over to your region’s Apple Education Store to avail the Back to School promotion.
When is Apple’s Back to School promotion available?
The 2023 edition of the promotion began on January 18 in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and South Korea. It will be available until March 23, 2023.
Apple is yet to announce the dates for the Back to School Promotion for eligible countries in the Northern Hemisphere.
However, prospective buyers can expect the program to run for approximately two months, usually starting at the beginning of summer vacation and ending around the start of a new school year.
Conclusion
We hope this article showed you how to take advantage of Apple’s Back to School promotion and grab a pair of free AirPods just in time for the new semester. Picture yourself walking on campus, listening to your favorite music on your brand-new AirPods.
We would love to hear from you. Did you pick up your free AirPods? Is the Back to School promotion available in your country? Feel free to let us know in the comment section below.
I went back to school on Monday and I didn’t get my AirPods the 2nd generation ,IPad,Mac Book I been wondering if you can ship them to my house please and thank you so much.
Ty I need some for school I hope this is legit.
Right now, I’m on Christmas + New Year’s 2-week vacation and I was wondering if I could get one of the free AirPods for school before returning from break. Thank you so much. (:-).