College student streaming deals: Check out discounts from Amazon, Hulu, Apple, and more

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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. Students on a budget can take advantage of several deals from popular streaming services, including film, TV, and music offerings. If you plan out your spending and snag the right discounts, you can now enjoy several streaming services without breaking the bank. To help you decide what to sign up for, we rounded up the best streaming service deals that are currently available for college students in the US. We’ve also compiled a list of popular streaming services that don’t offer any sort of student discount so that you don’t waste your time trying to find one. 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. Be sure to check each platform’s website for full details. Many of the discounts have a time limit before you start getting charged a standard rate, even if you’re still in school. Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime Video is introducing ads to its content beginning in 2024, requiring users to pay an extra $2.99 per month to go ad-free.

Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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. An individual membership to Amazon Prime costs $14.99 a month, so by claiming the student membership, you get 50% off the standard price. The student plan includes access to Prime Video where you can watch shows like “Fleabag,” “Invincible,” and “The Boys.” Prime Video is also the home to several original films, like “Being the Ricardos” and “Air.”  In addition to Prime Video, student members receive fast and free shipping on millions of eligible items, discounts on services like three months of Calm for free, and more exclusive deals that are further explained in our breakdown of Amazon Prime Student .

Amazon Prime Student

$7.49
$14.99
Save 50%

New subscribers to Amazon Prime Student can enjoy a six-month free trial and then Amazon Prime at 50% off the regular subscription price at the end of the trial.

View at Amazon

Max

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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. Subscriptions for Max’s ad-supported base plans typically cost $9.99 per month, but eligible college students can get access to this tier for just $4.99 per month. Max, formerly HBO Max, is the prestige cable network’s streaming counterpart. New episodes from nearly all HBO shows are released on Max at the same time that they air, and the service has a comprehensive back-catalog of almost all past HBO shows, including “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City.” 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. Plus, Max includes the B/R Sports add-on, which carries live sports events, for free right now (although this will eventually cost extra).

Max Student Discount

$4.99
$9.99
Save 50%

Eligible college students can access Max at 50% off for up to one year. This discount is for the streaming service’s ad-supported plan.

View at Max

Paramount+ 

Jakub Porzycki/Getty Images

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. Unlike most streaming service deals, current college students can lock in this discount for four years, even if they graduate. 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. The service features content from Paramount, CBS, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, and The Smithsonian Channel.  The platform also includes original series like “The Good Fight” and “Star Trek: Discovery.” Take a look at our full guide to original shows and movies on Paramount+  for more information about current and upcoming titles.

Paramount Plus Student Plan Monthly Subscription

$5.99
$7.99
Save 25%

Paramount Plus offers a student discount for 25% off its Essential monthly plan.

View at Paramount Plus

Peacock

Peacock

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. Notably, Peacock’s student discount didn’t increase in price when the rest of the plans saw a price hike in 2024, meaning that there’s even more of a discount than before, but the deal now caps at 12 months. A Peacock account comes with access to several beloved sitcoms, including “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” and “30 Rock.” The streaming service also has a variety of original TV shows, like “Poker Face” and “Apples Never Fall,” as well as several top-rated films, including all eight “Harry Potter” movies. 

Peacock Student Discount

$1.99
$7.99
Save 75%

Peacock’s already affordable ad-supported plan gets even cheaper thanks to this student discount. For just about $2 per month, you’ll get access to Peacock’s full on-demand catalog.

View at Peacock

Hulu

Hulu has said that it will begin cracking down on password sharing on March 16

SOPA Images/Getty Images

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. The Hulu Basic Plan normally costs $7.99 a month, so the student discount saves you about 75%.  Hulu Basic offers access to Hulu’s full catalog of movies and original series . Hulu also features a big selection of network shows , including popular series like “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Bachelor,” and “Bob’s Burgers.” You’ll also be able to stream Emmy Award-winning Hulu originals, like “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Great,” and “Shogun.”

Hulu Student Deal

$1.99
$7.99
Save 75%

Hulu’s Student Plan offers ad-supported streaming for just $2 a month.

View at Hulu

Apple

Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

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. College students are eligible for this discount for up to four years as long as they remain enrolled in school. 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. You can also download music to supported devices for offline listening.

Apple Music Student Monthly Subscription

$5.99
$10.99
Save 45%

The Apple Music Student Plan costs $6 a month. The plan also includes free access to Apple TV Plus.

View at Apple

Spotify

Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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 discount also comes with Hulu’s ad-supported plan thrown in, so it’s a great deal. The student plan is $5 cheaper than the individual Spotify Premium plan which costs $10.99 a month. To retain access to Spotify Premium at this discounted rate, students must verify they are still enrolled in college every 12 months. The Spotify Premium Student bundle is valid for a maximum of four years and you’re only eligible for it if you haven’t tried Premium before.

Spotify Premium Student Monthly Subscription

$5.99
$11.99
Save 50%

Spotify Premium Student is about $6 a month, and subscribers get ad-supported Hulu for free.

View at Spotify

YouTube Premium

YouTube wants to create AI-generated music.

Getty Images

YouTube Premium offers $6 off their individual plan to students, along with a one-month free trial for new customers. 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. The regular individual YouTube Premium rate is $13.99, so this isn’t a bad deal. Annual verifications are required to keep the student discount.

YouTube Premium Student Plan Monthly Subscription

$7.99
$13.99
Save 43%

YouTube Premium’s student plan is about $8 a month for ad-free YouTube streaming and access to the YouTube Music Premium app.

View at YouTube

Streaming services without student deals Though student discounts have become common, there are a few streaming services that don’t currently offer any student deals. The following services don’t have any active student discount offers:  Disney+ Netflix ESPN+ Discovery+ 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. So, if you’ve recently started getting charged $4.99 per month, it’s because your year was up. Additional streaming deals For more streaming recommendations, take a look at our guides to the best streaming services and the best streaming deals and bundles , which can help you find savings even if you’re not a college student. And, if you’re looking for a compact smart TV or media player ideal for watching any of these apps in a dorm or apartment, check out these home entertainment gift ideas for college students .

Lillian Brown

Associate Editor of Streaming

Lillian Brown is the Associate Editor of Streaming on Business Insider’s Reviews team. A lifelong entertainment and media buff, she specializes in helping you find how to watch your favorite shows, movies, and sporting events. Experience Lillian has been writing about entertainment, sports, TV, and film for over six years, starting her career in the Living/Arts department of The Boston Globe . She went on to write entertainment features, roundups, and conduct celebrity interviews for publications like Vulture , TV Guide , Esquire , Time , and The Daily Beast before joining Business Insider as a streaming specialist.  In her current role, she writes about everything from finding the right VPN for watching overseas soccer games to choosing between the endless number of streaming services out there. When she’s not writing, she is editing stories from freelancers or fellow Reviews team members.  Lillian is also an expert deal hunter. She loves the thrill of sharing an amazing discount with readers, whether it be on her favorite streaming services or on products she knows our team loves and recommends. She plays an active role in writing about sales and deals for the Reviews team. Why you can trust Lillian Whether she’s testing streaming platform interfaces or actively comparing channel offerings between services, Lillian always has her finger on the pulse of what’s new in entertainment. She has tested nearly every streaming service and is an expert when it comes to VPNs. She is the first person to know when a streaming service has changed its price, and whether or not it’s still worth paying for. As a sports fan, she also knows exactly where the next big playoff game is streaming, what time it starts, and where they’re playing.  Expertise Streaming services  How to watch your favorite films, TV, sports  VPN services for legal streaming Deals Outside of work Most of the time, you can find Lillian watching a horror movie, WNBA game (go Liberty!), or long-distance running. She is located in Boston.

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Reece Rogers

Streaming Fellow, Insider Reviews

Reece Rogers is a Streaming Fellow for the Insider Reviews team. They have written for WIRED, The Daily Beast, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. After graduating from college, they were a smartphone repair technician for a short stint and performed soldering magic on far too many iPhones. 
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