Apple holds a Back to School promotion (now known as the Higher Education Offer to avoid confusion) every year and it gives a free product – usually AirPods – away with purchases of qualifying Apple products.  

This is in addition to the year-long discounts Apple offers to students and education institutions on its Macs and iPads. We explain everything you need to know about getting a discount and using Apple’s Education Store in this guide to shopping in the Apple Education Store.

The Back To Higher Education deal is running in the southern hemisphere right now, so if you are based in that part of the world take advantage!

This also means we have a good idea of what to expect later in the year when Apple runs it in the northern hemisphere.

What’s Apple’s Back To School offer 2022?

• Free AirPods (2nd generation) worth £119/$119/A$219

The deal this year is that if you buy a qualifying product you will get a free pair of 2nd gen AirPods. That’s in addition to the education discount Apple offers students in higher education all year round.

You need to buy one of the following eligible products to get the free AirPods:

• Mac:  MacBook Air M1, 13in MacBook Pro M1, 14in & 16in MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max, 24in iMac M1, 27in iMac, Mac mini M1 & Mac Pro.
• iPad: iPad Air 4th Gen, iPad Pro 11in 3rd Gen, iPad Pro 12.9in 5th Gen.

All products sold to students via Apple’s Education Store include a discount, so you will already be making a saving on any of these products.

In addition, students can get 20% off AppleCare+.

How to get Apple’s Back To School deal

As long as you based in an area where Apple is running the deal at the time of your purchase, and are a student in higher education, or about to start higher education, you can qualify for Apple’s deal and get a free pair of AirPods. There are more details about who the deal applies to below.

Note that if you qualify you are able to get discounts all year round by shopping in the Apple Education Store, so you don’t need to shop now to get a bargain.

Due to differences in when the school year starts around the globe Apple runs the promotion at different times in different places.

Apple runs the promotion in the southern hemisphere in the first few months of the year. Hence, if you live in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and South America you can take advantage of Apple’s deal between 6 January to 14 March 2022.

The same deal will run later in the year in the UK, US, Canada and Europe. Usually between June and September in North America, and between July and October in Europe and the UK.

In the US you’ll be able to visit Apple’s US Education Store, but logging on from your university network may make the process easier. 

In the UK you will need to verify your student or staff status with UNiDAYS, which is also how you would access its Back to School offers.

Go to the Apple Education Store for other regions using the links below:

When you make your purchase you will be able to request the AirPods that you want at checkout and pay the extra if you wish to upgrade to the wireless AirPods or the AirPods Pro.

It’s worth checking out our student deals hub for more great back-to-school offers.

Read on to find out the dates the deal will run in 2022.

When is Apple’s Back to School Sale 2022?

Apple’s Higher Education Offer usually runs from June to September in the US and Canada, and from July to October in the UK.

In Australia, New Zealand and South America the sale takes place between January and March.

Apple Back to School Sale US & Canada dates

• Mid June to end of September (estimate)

In 2021 the deal ran from June 17 to September 27, so expect the dates to be similar in 2022.

In 2020 Apple launched the US sale on 15 June with an end date set for 29 September, although Apple ended up extending the end date to 12 October instead, moving it to just a day before Amazon’s Prime Day, which took place over 13-14 October 2020. Unfortunately Apple didn’t extend the deadline in North America in 2021 so it is unlikely to in 2022.

If this year’s deal isn’t running when you are considering buying from Apple that’s no reason for disappointment: Apple’s education discounts are available all year round.

Visit the US Education Store and Canada Education Store for more information.

Apple Back to School Sale UK/Europe – dates

• Mid July – mid October 2022 (estimated)

In 2021 Apple’s Higher Education Offer (aka Back to School Sale) started on 15 July 2021 in the UK Education Store. The sale ran until Monday 11 October.

It is normal for Apple to announce the UK offer in July. Apple UK’s Back to School Sale in 2020 started 9 July and lasted until 29 October. It also launched its 2019 sale on 9 July, and its 2018 sale started on 12 July.

If this year’s deal isn’t running when you are considering making a purchase from Apple that’s no reason for disappointment: Apple’s education discounts are available all year round. Students and educators need to log in via UNiDAYS website to see the offers. Educational Store discounts are usually up to £280 for UK students.

Apple Back to School Sale Australia/New Zealand/South America/South Korea

• 6 January – 14 March 2022

The dates in the southern hemisphere correspond with the new school year there.

Apple’s Back to School Sale for Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and, South Korea started 6 January 2022 and will end on 14 March 2022.

In 2021 it ran from 7 January and ended on 16 March, 2021.

What is Apple’s deal for 2022?

• Free 2nd gen AirPods worth £129/$129/A$219

Thanks to the deal university students, or those just about to start university or higher education, will receive a free pair of 2nd gen AirPods (normally worth £129/$129/AUD$219) with a new Mac or iPad.

Alternatively you can spend a little more to upgrade your AirPods to the 3rd gen AirPods or the AirPods Pro. The AirPods Max isn’t included in the offer (see where to buy the Max at the best price).

Students can get:

• A free set of 2nd gen AirPods worth £129/$129/A$219.
• Or, the 3rd gen AirPods worth £179/$179/A$279 if you pay the difference.
• Or, the AirPods Pro worth £159/$159/A$399 if you pay the extra.

All the details and terms and conditions can be found on Apple’s site here.

Which iPads are included in Apple’s Back to School deal?

Not every Apple product you can buy in the Education Store is included in the free AirPods deal.

For 2022, at least in the southern hemisphere, Apple is including the following iPads:

• iPad Air 4th Gen
• iPad Pro 11in 3rd Gen
• iPad Pro 12.9in 5th Gen

This corresponds with the 2021 deal, where Apple included the iPad Pro and iPad Air in the Back To School offer. The iPad 8th generation and iPad mini 5th generation are still excluded from the offer (perhaps because they are still relatively new).

You can still get discounted Educational Pricing on the iPad and iPad mini if you qualify, you just won’t be able to get the free pair of AirPods.

If you don’t qualify for the education pricing we have a separate guide on where to get the best deals on the iPad.

Which Macs are included in Apple’s Back to School deal?

If you qualify for Apple’s Back to School AirPods you need to buy one of the following Macs.

• MacBook Air M1
• 13in MacBook Pro M1
• 14in or 16in MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max
• 24in iMac M1
• 27in iMac
• Mac mini M1
• Mac Pro

You’ll also be able to take advantage of education pricing for all of those Macs. 

If you don’t qualify for an education discount have a look at these round ups of the best deals on a new Mac:

Who can get Apple’s Back to School deal

Even when Apple isn’t running the Back to School Deal students and education institutions can still take advantage of its standard educational pricing on its Educational Pricing page (US here/UK here).