The option to watch videos ad-free via YouTube Premium is an appealing one, as is the ability to download videos to watch offline. However, these perks will set you back $11.99/£11.99 each month for a subscription, which has always seemed a bit steep to us.
However, if you’re in full-time higher education, you should qualify for the YouTube Premium Student plan, which reduces the cost by nearly half to £6.99/$6.99 per month.
Here’s how to sign up for the student discount on YouTube Premium.
Who is eligible for YouTube Premium Student?
YouTube states that anyone currently enrolled in full-time higher education should be eligible for a student account. Verification is handled by the third-party service SheerID, so as long as your college or university appears on its list, you should be good to go.
You’ll need to provide documentation to confirm your student status, which usually includes an email address from your educational institute, scans of your student ID and possibly the confirmation of enrolment letter.
The verification will need to be repeated each year of your membership (up to a maximum of four), otherwise your account will revert to the standard YouTube Premium.
What do I get with a YouTube Premium Student plan?
There are a few benefits with a YouTube Premium Student plan, such as the aforementioned removal of all adverts. You can also download videos to watch offline, have YouTube play in the background even when you open other apps, plus the package includes a subscription to YouTube Music Premium so you can download songs and albums from a selection of millions of tracks.
For more details on the different services, read what is YouTube Music and YouTube Premium?
How to get YouTube Premium Student
Head to the YouTube Premium web page and click on the family or student plan option.
You’ll see the listing for Student appear, along with a button entitled Try it for free. At the time of writing, YouTube is offering a month-long free trial of the service so you can see if it works for you. So, to begin setting up your account, click the button.
One thing to note. If you already have a YouTube Premium account, you’ll need to cancel it before taking up the student plan.
A pop-up box will appear next, warning you that you’re being redirected to the SheerID site for verification purposes. Click Continue to proceed.
Now you’ll need to fill in the form to confirm your student status. Click Next to move to the stage where you might need to upload your documents so that SheerID can verify them. With this done, click Submit and the validation process will begin.
YouTube states that this should be confirmed immediately, but if there are delays then you should expect to receive your confirmation in 24 hours in the US and up to 48 hours in other countries.
If the confirmation is immediate, all you’ll need to do next is enter your payment details then click the Buy button to finish setting up your account.
Should you have to wait for SheerID to run the checks, once you’ve been verified return to your YouTube account, click the profile icon and select Paid Memberships. You should see a notification asking you to complete setting up the student plan, so follow the instructions and you’ll be good to go.
To save more money during your studies, be sure to check out best student deals, how to get Dell student discount, how to get Amazon Prime student discount and best student bank accounts.
Author: Martyn Casserly, Contributor
Martyn has been involved with tech ever since the arrival of his ZX Spectrum back in the early 80s. He covers iOS, Android, Windows and macOS, writing tutorials, buying guides and reviews for Macworld and its sister site Tech Advisor.