Amazon Prime Student is a cheap way to get Amazon Prime at student pricing. When you sign up, you get a free six month Amazon Prime trial and then you get a cheaper Amazon Prime membership for four years or until you graduate.
While Amazon Student is a cheaper option and a good idea for most users who qualify, there are few things you don’t get with the student version of Prime, which may push you to get your own Amazon Prime subscription or share your family’s membership.
You can sign up for a free Amazon Prime Student trial for six months with a valid .edu address, with no commitment or strings attached. If you are starting off on your own for college it’s an cheap way to make sure you can get all the things you need for your dorm or apartment.
Reasons to Sign Up for Amazon Prime Student;
- Free Six Month Trial
- Free 2 Day Shipping
- Half Price Amazon Prime
- Other Prime Benefits
- College Deals
- To Get the $10 Refer a Friend Bonus
Reasons Not to Use Amazon Prime Student;
- You Want Prime Music
- You Want Prime Reading
- You Need to Share an Account
- You Can Join Your Parents Plan
Here’s a closer look at the reasons for each of these. Keep in mind that you can sign up for a free Amazon Prime Student trial for six months with no strings attached.
6 Reasons to Try Amazon Prime Student
Free Six Month Trial
The normal Amazon Prime free trial is one month, which is long enough to try out a ton of the features, but it ends pretty quickly. With the six month Amazon Prime student trial, you can fully immerse yourself in all the benefits and get through a semester of school without paying for Prime.
This is super helpful for your first semester on your own or at a new school, and there is no commitment, so you can cancel without paying anything.
Free 2 Day Shipping
One of the best reasons to get Amazon Prime is for free two day shipping. While Walmart is teasing one-day shipping without a membership, Amazon is actually delivering, and Amazon’s website offers more clear pricing and lets you know who you are buying from.
With Prime you get free two day shipping, discounted one day shipping and in some areas same day delivery options in as little as two hours.
Half Price Amazon Prime
After the free trial is over, you’ll still save thanks to the Amazon Prime student discount.
Instead of paying $119 a year for Amazon Prime as a normal member, you get Amazon Prime for $59.99 a year. That’s a 50% discount and you get it for four years or until you graduate, whichever comes first.
Other Amazon Prime Benefits
There are a ton of other useful Amazon Prime benefits that you get with Amazon Prime Student. These include many you don’t know about like unlimited photo backup and Whole Foods discounts. Here are other benefits you get;
- Free Book from Kindle Owners Lending Library
- Unlimited Photos Backup
- Prime Pantry
- Amazon Elements
- Lightning Deals
- Prime Early Access
Keep in mind some of these can change over time, and you don’t get all the Prime benefits with the student version, but you do get many of them.
College Deals
Amazon offers a whole section of College student discounts. You can clip these coupons and use them during your normal Amazon shopping. These are only available to college students.
This includes deals on groceries, health and beauty, dorm essentials and more. Many of these are name brand deals and the dorm essentials include some must have items.
To Get the Refer a Friend Bonus
If you send an invite to another college student and they join, you both get a $5 credit.
You need to send the invite using email to the other student and they need to join using your link.
It’s a handy way to earn some Amazon Credit if you are the first in your class to join.
Reasons to Skip Amazon Prime Student
If you need any of the following options, you may want to get a normal Amazon Prime membership. You can sign up for a free 1 month trial of a normal Amazon Prime account.
You Want Prime Music
While you get a ton of benefits with Amazon Prime Student, you don’t get access to all of the options.
One of the features you may want is Amazon Music Unlimited. This Spotify alternative is free with the normal Amazon Prime, but not included on the student version.
You Want Prime Instant Video
Another thing missing from the student version is Amazon Instant Video. This Netflix style service offers a ton of movies and TV shows as well as a originals.
On the Prime for students you don’t get this. If you’re all in on Hulu or Netflix, this isn’t a huge deal, but you will miss out on a decent number of features.
You Want Prime Reading
If you’re a voracious reader, you may miss Prime Reading. This benefit is only for Amazon Prime members at full price.
It includes over a thousand books, magazines and comics, as well as Kindle Singles. Check out your school library and you May get a similar benefit for free.
You Need to Share an Account
The biggest catch with the student account is that you can’t share Prime. With the standard Prime account, you can share with another adult and several children.
The Student Prime version cannot be shared with anyone, so a room mate or even a spouse will need their own subscription. Or you will need to share your login info and use the same credit cards.
You Can Join Your Parents Plan
If your parents don’t need to share a Prime account, they can add you as an adult member and then you get most of the benefits of Prime without paying for a student version.
The child accounts don’t get enough benefits to make them usable as a student, so this only really works if you have the normal membership shared.
Ultimately, it may make more sense to get the Amazon Prime Student deal instead of dealing with sharing.
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