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Amazon Prime Student: What You Get, What You Don’t, and Why It’s Worth It

You can get the best Amazon Prime features for free for 6 months through Amazon Prime Student. You don’t get everything, but the free trial is still totally worth it.

Talk to anyone you know who has Amazon Prime, and they’ll sing its praises. The free 2-day shipping is what hooked most of us, but Prime is truly the gift that keeps giving, with new Amazon Prime benefits being added every year. Even so, you may be hesitant to pony up the $99 a year or $10.99 a month. I understand that. I felt like that for years, but then I got the free trial through Amazon Family when my first kid was born, and now I can’t live without it.

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If you’re a student, you can get an even better deal than the Amazon Family free trial. Sprint is currently sponsoring a six-month free trial of Amazon Prime Student, which includes the main benefits of Amazon Prime and then an offer to upgrade to a paid membership at a 50% discount after your free trial expires. If you’re a student and can prove it, I highly recommend you check out the Amazon Prime Student free trial.

What Do You Get For Free with Amazon Prime Student?

Amazon Prime Student provides a subset of the full Amazon Prime benefits. Amazon Prime normally costs $10.99 a month or $99 a year, but Amazon Prime Student is sponsored by Sprint, so you get six months for free. You don’t have to be a Sprint customer to get Amazon Prime student for free.

With Amazon Prime Student, here’s what you get:

  • Free 2-day shipping on Amazon Prime eligible items.
  • Access to unlimited streaming on Prime Video. Includes TV shows, movies, and a few Amazon exclusive shows and Amazon originals.
  • Access to unlimited photo storage. Store as many photos as you want with Amazon Prime Photos.
  • $10 referral bonus for each person you refer to Amazon Prime Student. This is available in all states except Arkansas, Maine, Missouri, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

You get all of the above for six months for free. After that, you have to upgrade to a full Amazon Prime account. The good news, though, is that you’ll get all the Amazon Prime benefits after you upgrade, and you’ll get a 50% discount for the next four years or until you are no longer enrolled as a college student.

amazon prime video

Note: There’s a list of additional Amazon Prime Benefits on the Amazon help page that I believe you get with Amazon Prime Student, but have not been able to confirm. I chatted with Amazon help, and they told me that if an Amazon Prime benefit is not specifically excluded on this page, then it is included with an Amazon Prime Student six-month free trial. If you have a free trial and you can confirm or refute this claim, please let us know in the comments!:

  • FREE Same-Day Delivery in eligible zip codes. 
  • FREE Release-Date Delivery
  • Prime Now
  • Restaurant Delivery
  • Prime Pantry
  • Amazon Elements
  • Amazon Dash for Prime
  • Prime Early Access
  • Prime Reading
  • Kindle First
  • Audible Channels for Prime
  • Video Add-On Subscriptions
  • Twitch Prime

What Don’t You Get with Amazon Prime Student?

Amazon Prime Student isn’t a full Amazon Prime membership. Here are the features and benefits you don’t get with Amazon Prime Student that you would get with a full-blown Amazon Prime membership:

  • Access to Amazon Prime Music. Amazon Prime Music has some full albums and songs available for unlimited, commercial-free streaming. With Amazon Prime Student, you don’t get access to Amazon Prime songs.
  • Amazon Member Sharing. You cannot let family members or other people use your Amazon Prime shipping benefits with Amazon Prime Student.
  • Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. There are some free Amazon Kindle books that you can check out for free with Amazon Prime. As an Amazon Prime Student, you don’t have access to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
  • Amazon Family Discounts. 20% diaper discounts and 15% baby registry completion discounts aren’t available to Amazon Prime Student members.

How Do I Upgrade Amazon Prime Student to Amazon Prime?

When you sign up for the Amazon Prime Student six-month free trial, you give them your payment information. So, when your membership expires, they just start charging you for a full Prime membership. But you get a 50% discount for up to four years, and you instantly get all the Amazon Prime benefits that you were missing out on when you were on the free trial.

How to Sign Up for Amazon Prime Student with a .edu Email Address

To be eligible for Amazon Prime Student, you must be enrolled in at least one college, or university course in the U.S.  Simply go to the Amazon Prime Student sign up page and fill out the form with your .edu email address. Amazon will send you an email to your .edu email address to verify that you are indeed a college student.

How to Sign up for Amazon Prime Student without a .edu Email Address

If you go to a legitimate school that doesn’t offer you a .edu address, you can still sign up for Amazon Prime Student. You just have to verify your college student status using a different method. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Make sure you already have an Amazon account with an active credit card.
  2. Using the email address associated with your Amazon account, send proof of your enrollment to amazon-student-verification@amazon.com. Proof of enrollment includes a screenshot, scan, or photo of one of the following:
    • Student ID with expiration or current term on it
    • Transcript with your name, the current term, and the school’s name on it
    • Tuition bill with your name, the current term, and the school’s name on it
    • An official acceptance letter for the upcoming term, including matriculation date
  3. After your student status is verified, Amazon will send you an email with a link to sign up. You must sign up via the link within 14 days.

See this page for more information on signing up for Amazon Prime Student without a .edu address.

amazon prime student review

Conclusion

Amazon Prime Student is a great way for college students to enjoy Amazon Prime benefits for free. After that, the 50% discount on a full Prime membership is a decent savings, too. Although you don’t get the full compliment of Amazon Prime benefits, the free shipping, and Prime video make it well worth it—especially if you remember to cancel after your six-month trial is up.

At any rate, the only thing worse than paying full price for Amazon Prime in the first year is not having Amazon Prime at all. Sign up! Or let us know why not in the comments.

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Brian

    Maybe it’s just me, but wouldn’t it make sense to give students access to books before adding in video?

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