Student Streaming Deals Compared: Save Up to 75% on Your Favorite Services

In today's digital age, streaming services have become essential for entertainment. College is expensive, but there are fortunately a number of streaming services that offer substantial student discounts that can help give your wallet a break. For students, balancing a budget with the desire for quality content can be challenging. Thankfully, many streaming platforms offer student discounts, significantly reducing costs and providing access to a wide array of movies, TV shows, and music. Verification procedures vary from service to service, with most now using third-party verification platforms like SheerID or UNiDAYS to look into your student status. By taking advantage of these discounts, you can enjoy a wide range of content without overspending. When searching for a cheap way to stream as a student, ensure to verify your student status to access these deals and keep an eye out for any changes or new offers.

Key Streaming Services Offering Student Discounts

Several popular streaming services offer exclusive deals for college students, providing access to a wealth of content at significantly reduced prices. Here's a detailed comparison of the best student streaming deals currently available:

1. Hulu Student Discount: 75% Off

Hulu stands out among streaming services with its exceptional student discount program. Hulu offers an incredible 75% discount for students, bringing the cost of their ad-supported plan down to just $1.99 per month. College students can enjoy Hulu's ad-supported plan for just $1.99 per month, which is a whopping 75% off the regular price of $7.99. This deal is valid as long as you’re a college student, making it one of the most long-lasting student offers available.

To qualify, you’ll need to verify your student status through SheerID. Eligible students can get the ad-supported plan for $2 per month. To qualify, you must be enrolled at a Title IV accredited US college or university. Hulu uses SheerID to verify academic eligibility. Both new and existing Hulu subscribers can take advantage of this student discount. To do so, you must log in to your account and complete the verification process through SheerID.

The Hulu student plan provides an ad-supported streaming experience, meaning students will see commercials while watching their favorite shows. With the full catalog access, they can enjoy content across various genres, including exclusive Hulu Originals, films, and hit series. The student plan grants you unlimited access to the Hulu Streaming Library, which includes a vast selection of shows, movies, and Hulu Originals.

If you’re looking for Hulu’s student discount, you’ll have to make a choice. Do you want Spotify, too? If you only want a Hulu subscription, you’ll be looking at $1.99 a month. That’s one of the cheapest streaming deals around, even if you have to put up with ads. And it lasts for the entire duration of your college enrollment, even if you take extra time to graduate.

Hulu offers their basic ad-supported plan to college students for $1.99/month until they graduate as a part of their Hulu Student Deal plan. Hulu Basic offers access to Hulu's full catalog of movies and original series.

Students can reap the benefits of Hulu's incredible discount by signing up for the Hulu (With Ads) plan at just $1.99/month. Title IV accredited college or university using SheerID. This offer continues as long as students maintain their verified status. It's crucial for students to note that this discount is not applicable to those on the Disney Bundle subscription or those wishing to upgrade to Hulu (No Ads) or Live TV plans. Also, students must be at least 18 years old to qualify.

In addition to this amazing deal, Hulu also offers a special Black Friday promotion for students, allowing subscriptions for only 99 cents a month for the first year. To take advantage of Hulu's student discount, enrollment verification is required. Students must confirm their status through UNiDAYS, a platform dedicated to providing student discounts across various services.

BTW: Each streaming service handles its student discounts a little differently.

Read also: Guide to UC Davis Student Housing

2. Spotify Premium Student with Hulu Bundle

If you’re more like me, you care more about Spotify than Hulu. Enter the poorly named Spotify Premium Student with Hulu (With Ads) bundle. The Hulu subscription still has those pesky ads, but the Spotify subscription doesn’t, and that’s essential for an all-night study sesh. Take it from this Gen Z elder, kids: Use the Spotify discount while you still can. I know, it’s my job to get you excited about TV, but listen, it doesn’t even matter if you utilize the Hulu subscription or not.

Spotify is another company offering an exclusive deal for college students that combines music with streaming services. You can get Spotify Premium Student for $5.99 a month after a one-month free trial. The deal combines Spotify Premium and Hulu's ad-supported plan, which normally cost $13 and $12 a month, respectively. The student plan is $5 cheaper than the individual Spotify Premium plan which costs $10.99 a month.

You need to be a student older than 18 who's "enrolled at a US Title IV accredited college or university" to qualify, and Spotify works with SheerID to verify that you're eligible. You'll need to verify eligibility every 12 months, with the offer available for a total of four years. In addition, new Spotify Premium subscribers may qualify for a free month. Full details can be found on Spotify's site.

Unfortunately, no matter which plan you sign up for, you won’t be able to combine this discount with other offers. That means you can’t pay to remove the ads, and you won’t be able to benefit from the Disney Bundle.

To retain access to Spotify Premium at this discounted rate, students must verify they are still enrolled in college every 12 months.

Read also: Investigating the Death at Purdue

3. Amazon Prime Student Discount: 6-Month Free Trial

Amazon Prime offers one of the best deals for students. You can get a 6-month free trial of Prime, which includes Prime Video. This deal not only gives you access to Prime Video but also includes other Prime benefits like free shipping and Prime Music.

With Amazon Prime Student or Amazon Prime for Young Adults, you’ll get all of the perks that come with an Amazon Prime subscription: access to Prime Video, two-day shipping, GrubHub+ food delivery, Prime Gaming, and more.

Amazon offers a discounted plan for college students called Amazon Prime Student. The program includes a six-month free trial for new members and each month after the trial costs $7.49.

Amazon stands out from other student discount programs by letting customers choose an annual subscription (for $69.00/yr.) and remove ads (for $2.99/mo.) Now, we still hate that Amazon makes us pay extra to get rid of ads, but for some reason, other services force students to sit through ads no matter what.

Prime Video through a Prime Student membership Amazon's Prime Student membership is a route for higher education students wanting to get Prime Video, Amazon Music Prime and fast, free delivery, among other perks. (The offer is also open to nonstudents 18 to 24.) It's $7.50 per month, half the monthly cost of an ordinary Prime membership. Prime Video, which now includes ads, is typically $9 per month on its own. Students may qualify for a six-month free trial.

Student discounts are all about timing. Which is why it pains me that Amazon rolled out its Prime for Young Adults program, which is open to 18-24-year-olds, when I was 25. If they had just widened their definition of “young” a liiiittle further, I could have given you a much more in-depth look at Prime’s student perks. (I’m young! I’m Brat! But if you’re 18-24 years old or currently enrolled in college, you can do what I can’t.

Not a student but still want to try Amazon Prime?

4. Apple TV+ Student Discount: Free with Apple Music Student

Apple offers a unique deal where students can get Apple TV+ for free with an Apple Music student subscription. The Apple Music student plan costs $5.99 per month after a 1-month free trial, and Apple TV+ is included at no extra cost.

But it’s a little tricky to find the Apple TV+ student discount. The trick to getting discounted Apple TV+ is actually to sign up for Apple Music Student. As a longtime Spotify user, I deleted Apple Music from my iPad a long time ago, so it took me a minute to redownload the app. At first, I thought I was in the wrong place because I only saw my old iTunes library (I’ll never escape U2’s Songs of Innocence). Regular Apple Music ($10.99/mo.) is usually billed separately from Apple TV+ ($12.99/mo.). But Apple Music Student combines the two with a much lower price tag. Since I graduated from college several years ago, I usually can’t get too far into the sign-up process for student discounts.

To qualify, you’ll need to verify your student status. This bundle is an excellent value for students who enjoy both music and TV content. However, note that this Apple TV+ access can’t be shared with Family Sharing.

Apple's student streaming plan combines subscriptions to Apple Music and Apple TV+ for just $5.99 per month. With Apple Music at a regular monthly rate of $10.99 and Apple TV+ at a rate of $9.99, this student deal is more than 70% off in total. With Apple TV+ you can stream original series like "Ted Lasso," "For All Mankind," and "The Morning Show." Apple Music allows you to stream over 75 million songs from your favorite artists without any interruptions from ads.

Download Apple Music from the App Store if you haven’t already. Make sure your Name, Birthday, Region, and School are correct. In the pop-up window, enter your school log-in credentials. Verify in the Apple payment window that you’re subscribing to Apple Music Student with a 1-mo. free trial and a $5.99/mo. Note the renewal date if you plan on canceling before your 1st payment. Follow the on-screen instructions to confirm your payment.

Apple TV with Apple Music Two streamers for the price of one student subscription? That's the deal Apple has on the table. An Apple Music student subscription costs $6 per month (in comparison, an individual subscription is $11 per month), and Apple currently throws in Apple TV as well.

5. Paramount Plus Student Discount: 25% Off

Paramount+ offers students a 25% discount on their Essential monthly subscription. This brings the subscription cost down to just $5.99 per month, allowing you to enjoy a huge channel list of Paramount Plus at a fraction of the regular price.

Similar to Hulu, Paramount+ offers their ad-supported plan to college students at a discounted rate. You can claim a 25% discount on the Essential Plan, which brings the price down to around $4.50 a month. With Paramount+, you can watch CBS shows like "NCIS," "Criminal Minds," and "Ghosts," along with movies like "Mean Girls," "Top Gun: Maverick," and "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning." This is also the streaming service where you'll find all of the "Yellowstone" prequels.

Before getting started with the discount, students can get started with the Paramount Plus free trial. To claim this discount, you’ll need to verify your student status through a third-party verification service, SheerID. Once confirmed, you can start streaming immediately.

Paramount Plus offers qualifying students 50% off either the Essential or Premium tier for 12 months, with the option to re-verify your student status and continue saving. You must be enrolled in an accredited, Title IV higher education institution. For sign-up, Paramount Plus will verify your student credentials through a third party called SheerID.

You can choose between annual and monthly payment options. Essential usually runs $9 per month or $90 per year, and Premium costs $14 per month or $140 per year. People with existing Paramount Plus subscriptions must cancel and resubscribe to get the deal.

I don’t know if I would really recommend the Paramount+ student discount under normal conditions. While it is pretty sweet that you don’t have to re-verify your enrollment every year (dropouts, I’m looking at you), it sucks that you’re limited to Paramount+’s ad-supported tier. You won’t get the full lineup of live sports, live CBS, or SHOWTIME content. And $2.00/mo. Sometimes Paramount+ does offer student discounts on its superior SHOWTIME tier-like the March Madness 2025 deal that ends 4/8/25. And you didn’t hear it from me, but if you’re not eligible for a student discount, try validating anyway and then wait a few days. SheerID will send you a 20% discount code for one year of any annual plan, not just Essential monthly.

6. Max (formerly HBO Max) Student Discount: 50% Off

HBO Max (now only Max) offers students a 50% discount on their With Ads plan, bringing the cost down to $4.99 per month for up to 12 months. Max didn't start offering a student discount until recently, but college students can now get Max for 50% off for up to 12 months. Max, formerly HBO Max, is the prestige cable network's streaming counterpart. It carries tons of other programming, including original Max series like "Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin" and "Hacks," in addition to recent Warner Bros. film releases, like the "Dune" and "Harry Potter" movies. Eligible college students can access Max at 50% off for up to one year.

This gives you access to a premium library of content, including HBO originals, blockbuster movies, and exclusive Max Original series. To claim this offer, you’ll need to verify your student status through UNiDAYS. This deal is ideal for students who appreciate high-quality, award-winning content and want access to the latest HBO shows.

HBO Max is one of the only streaming services to use UNiDAYS as its validation service instead of SheerID. In theory, a UNiDAYS account will give you access to student discounts from other brands, too.

HBO Max Basic With Ads student discount Students have another streaming deal to choose from as HBO Max is marking down its ad-based plan. US college students who qualify pay $5.50 per month instead of $11 for HBO Max Basic With Ads. Warner Bros. Discovery's streamer works with UNiDAYS to verify students' eligibility.

7. Peacock Student Discount: Significant Savings

Peacock’s student discount is one of the most impressive on the market. Students can get Peacock Premium for only $2.99 per month for 12 months, which is a whopping 62% discount off the regular price. Peacock has a student deal that reduces the monthly cost by 75% of what it normally would be. The Peacock Student Discount goes for $1.99 per month, as opposed to the standard monthly rate of $7.99. Peacock's already affordable ad-supported plan gets even cheaper thanks to this student discount.

This deal gives you access to a wide range of NBC content, original series, and live sports. To take advantage of this offer, you’ll need to verify your student status. Once verified, you’ll receive a promo code to use at checkout. This deal is ideal for students who enjoy network TV shows, reality programming, and sports content.

For some reason, Peacock’s student discount only lasts for a single year, so you won’t be able to benefit for your entire college career (unless you really cram a lot of credits into each semester). But that $2.99/mo.

Peacock Premium student discount Get access to Peacock's ad-supported tier for $6 per month for 12 months with a student discount. Peacock Premium typically costs $11 per month. The offer is available to students 18 years or older enrolled in an undergraduate or advanced degree program at a Title IV accredited school in the US. Eligibility is verified through SheerID, and the deal can be renewed annually if students meet the criteria. New or existing Peacock subscribers can redeem the offer.

Another discount on Peacock Premium is available to young adults (18 to 24), regardless of student status.

8. Disney Plus Student Discount: 15% Off

With more than 13K movies and TV shows, Disney Plus has more than 153 million subscribers worldwide. Now, the platform offers a 15% discount on its annual subscription for students through Student Beans and UNiDAYS. This discount brings down the cost of a yearly subscription, giving you access to Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic content at a reduced rate.

Yes, Disney+ does have student discount options, although they are offered through third-party platforms. Students can receive a 15% discount on an annual subscription when they verify their status through services like UNiDAYS or Student Beans. To take advantage of these offers, students must ensure they have active accounts on these platforms. Additionally, if a student is already subscribed to Hulu's student plan, they might find options to add Disney+ at a reduced rate.

9. YouTube Premium Student Discount

YouTube Premium: This service offers a student discount that reduces the monthly price from $13.99 to $7.99, following an initial one-month free trial. This streaming service doesn't offer many original movies or shows, but for a discounted rate of $7.99 a month you can watch YouTube without ads, keep videos running in the background, and use the YouTube Music Premium app.

10. Crunchyroll Student Discount

Crunchyroll offers a 7-day free trial and a 16% discount on the annual subscription (location specific) for their Mega Fan plan. This is great news for anime lovers on a student budget.To access this discount, you don’t need to verify your student status since it is available for everyone.

11. Tidal Student Discount

Save on Tidal College and high school students may be eligible for a discounted subscription to Tidal. For students who qualify, a subscription costs $5.50 per month instead of the typical $11 per month.High school students must be at least 16 years old and in the US to qualify. Tidal uses SheerID to verify eligibility, and students are required to reverify every 12 months.

12. Amazon Music Unlimited Student Discount

Amazon Music Prime (or Prime Music), which comes with a Prime membership, doesn't offer the same experience as the Amazon Music Unlimited tier of Amazon's music service. For example, Prime Music lets you "shuffle play any artist, album or playlist" and choose songs from "All-Access Playlists," but you need Music Unlimited if you want to pick and play any song you want. An Individual Music Unlimited plan usually costs $12 per month if you're a Prime member and $13 per month if you aren't.Amazon says you "must be enrolled at an accredited college or university to qualify" for the Music Unlimited student plan, which costs $6 per month.

Streaming Services Without Student Discounts

Though student discounts have become common, there are a few streaming services that don't currently offer any student deals. Netflix doesn’t offer a direct student discount or even a free trial. Although Netflix has explored potential student discounts, no formal program exists. Netflix states that many of its users are students, believing that the breadth and quality of its content justifies the pricing. It's worth noting that Discovery+ only removed its student discount in June 2023, but subscribed students were allowed to keep the discount for the remainder of their verified year. YouTube TV: On the other hand, YouTube TV does not have a student discount available. No, YouTube TV does not offer a direct student discount at this time. Despite various sources mentioning possible student discounts, these claims lack official backing. Moreover, although there is a separate NFL Sunday Ticket Student Plan for out-of-market NFL games, it does not include comprehensive channel access available through YouTube TV.

T-Mobile provides an exciting opportunity for students to access Netflix as part of their mobile plan. Through T-Mobile’s “Netflix ON US” program, students can get Netflix Standard with ads (valued at $6.99/month) included at no additional cost with eligible T-Mobile plans. This offer is available on Go5G or Magenta plans with two or more lines, as well as on Go5G Next, Go5G Plus, or Magenta MAX plans. To activate this benefit, students need to log into their My T-Mobile account, go to the Add-Ons section, and follow the prompts to link their existing Netflix account or create a new one.

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