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

By Jeff Butts

Updated January 16, 2024

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 $139 a year or $14.99 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.

If you’re a student, you can get an even better deal than the Amazon Family free trial. The online retailer offers a six-month free trial of Amazon Prime Student, courtesy of Grubhub. This includes the main benefits of Amazon Prime and auto-renews at $7.49 per month 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 $14.99 a month or $139 a year, but Amazon Prime Student gives you six months for free. You don’t have to be a current Grubhub user to get an Amazon Prime student for free.

With Amazon Prime Student, you’ll enjoy a number of great benefits.

Free Shipping and Delivery Options

Amazon Prime Student provides a number of options to save on shipping and delivery fees. These include:

• Free 2-day shipping on Amazon Prime eligible items.
• Free one-day shipping on more than 20 million items with no minimum purchase.
• Free Amazon Day Delivery, allowing you to choose one day of the week that works best for you to receive all of your Amazon purchases.
• Free same-day delivery on millions of best sellers and everyday essentials in eligible cities when you meet a minimum threshold of eligible items.
• Amazon Key In-Garage Delivery will help avoid porch pirates. Amazon delivery drivers get one-time verified access to your garage so they can place your packages securely inside.
• Amazon Pickup Locations lets you have your purchases delivered to places near where you live, work, or already visit.
• Free same-day from stores near you, like GNC, Sur la Table, PacSun, and Superdry. You must be in an eligible city, meet minimum order requirements, and place your order through Amazon’s website.
• 2-hour grocery delivery from Whole Foods Markets in select U.S. cities, assuming your order is $150 or more.

Free Options for Entertainment

You’ll also get a few options for entertainment when you aren’t busy in class or studying.

• Access to unlimited streaming on Prime Video. Includes TV shows, movies, and a few Amazon exclusive shows and Amazon originals.
• Amazon Music Prime lets you shuffle through more than 100 million ad-free songs. Upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited for an additional fee to get on-demand music as well as HD or spatial audio options.
• Prime Gaming comes with your Amazon Prime Student subscription, too. This gives you free games, a free Twitch subscription each month, and more.

Save On Textbooks and More

Through your Amazon Prime Student account, you can rent your textbooks or get free comics. You can also buy many textbooks at a discount, saving you even more money.

The plan also includes Prime Reading, giving you unlimited access to more than a thousand books, magazines, comics, Kindle Singles, and more from a wide selection of genres. These also include Audible Narration, letting you seamlessly switch between reading and listening without missing a single word.

Fashion and Photos, Direct from Amazon to Your Dorm Room

Like other Prime plans, Amazon Prime Student includes benefits in both fashion and photos.

• Access to unlimited photo storage. Store as many photos as you want with Amazon Prime Photos.
• Try Before You Buy. Try on clothes at home and only pay for what you keep.

Deals, Deals, and More (Exclusive Student) Deals

As an Amazon Prime Student subscriber, you’ll get access to the same great deals other members get. There are also a few perks available only to Prime Student members.

• Prime member deals, offering what are often very impressive discounts on popular products across all categories.
• Early access to Lightning deals, letting you get the jump on those discounts that only last a short while or have limited availability.
• Enjoy Prime Day deals, happening sometimes twice a year. These often feature the best available discounts on electronics, fashion items and accessories, and more.

You’ll also enjoy offers and discounts on travel, tutoring, and more.

• Student Universe gives you savings of up to 10% on flights and hotels with free premium customer support.
• Discounted guided meditation with Calm. You can get a free 3-month Premium subscription to Calm, then pay just $8.99 per year. This would regularly cost you $69.99 per year.
• Help with Homework from Course Hero. Your first month of homework help and live tutors is absolutely free.
• Savings at Amazon Warehouse. You’ll save an extra $5 on your first Amazon Warehouse purchase.

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:

• 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 to Sign Up for Amazon Prime Student Through Verification

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 college or university, name, and graduation year. You can also sign up using 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 Verification or .edu Email Address

If validation doesn’t work or you go to a legitimate school that doesn’t offer you a .edu address, you can still sign up for Amazon Prime Student if you’re between the ages of 18 and 24. You just have to verify your age using your valid identification. You just upload a photograph of your driver’s license, passport, or identity card.

Conclusion

Amazon Prime Student is a great way for college students to enjoy Amazon Prime benefits for free. While you don’t get the full complement 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.