Out of state Education Purchase?

corkurk

Hi all,



Since the tragic theft of my Powerbook a month ago, I've been looking into how to get the best deal on a new laptop (MacBook Pro here I come). The last time I got mine from the Cambridgeside Galleria in MA with my Boston University student discount. Saved me a few hundred bucks (between the PB and the iPod), but I basically lost that once you figured in sales tax.



Does anyone know if you can use your student discount out of state from the university that you're affiliated with? My plan now is to drive up to Salem, New Hampshire (NH has no sales tax for those of you not on the East Coast) and use my student discount. Just wondering if anyone had any similar experience before I trudge all the way up there only to find out that you they have some kind of restriction on that.



Anybody in the New England area?



Thanks.

hxc04

At the University of Akron, you have to put your student ID# to be approved for the discount, they check it right there to avoid fake ID#'s

corkurk

Is that through an on-campus reseller or an apple retail store? I was concerned about trying to use my MA student ID to make a purchase at an apple retail store in NH. Does anyone know if Apple restricts educational purchases to the state of the school? The only reason I want to do this is to dodge sales tax AND get the education discount, but I wonder if Apple has taken situations like this into account and put a restriction on it.

skatman

Quote:

Originally posted by Corkurk

Is that through an on-campus reseller or an apple retail store? I was concerned about trying to use my MA student ID to make a purchase at an apple retail store in NH. Does anyone know if Apple restricts educational purchases to the state of the school? The only reason I want to do this is to dodge sales tax AND get the education discount, but I wonder if Apple has taken situations like this into account and put a restriction on it.

Why? What does apple care?

fran441

I was not aware that Apple Retail Stores handled Educational Sales. Maybe something has changed but the last time I checked, Educational Sales were handled through school stores (BU has a Computer Store in Kenmore Square if I'm not mistaken) or through the Apple Online Store.



The simplest way to figure this out is to call the Salem, NH store and see what they say.

corkurk

Fran,



IIRC when the retail stores first opened they didn't handle the Education discount. It must have been added at a later date though because I know they accepted it when I purchased my PB back in January of 2004. All they did was make a copy of my student ID enter a few codes on the computer and send me on my way.



skatman

I'll call Salem Retail and see if they have any restrictions on out of state purchases. With the whole "no sales tax" thing, I thought they (at the state level - not Apple) may have something in place to prevent people from coming into NH just to make bigger purchases and dodge the tax in their home state. If they don't, then I'll be more than happy to exploit this loop-hole.

fran441

People come up to NH all the time to buy big ticket items and avoid sales tax. The only thing you can't avoid sales tax on in NH if you live in MA is a car, they get that from you when you register your vehicle.



South Nashua is generally a nightmare on the weekends because of all the people coming up from MA to buy stuff.

corkurk

Sweet Fran441! Thanks for the info. I'll keep that in mind for all of my bigger purchases from now on.



Thanks for your help guys.