How to get the Spotify student discount and pay less for Spotify

As a student, paying for subscription fees on top of tuition and various other expenses isn’t fun. Luckily, there are many subscription services that offer discounts and bonuses for students—like the Spotify student discount.

Spotify Premium Student is an exclusive student discount for the world’s most popular music streaming service. Having used it myself for the entirety of my university life, I can tell you it’s well worth it if you are a music lover. Let’s talk about how students can take advantage of the Spotify student discount.

Read more: 15 Spotify tips to get more out of your Spotify Premium or free account

Spotify Premium regularly costs $9.99 a month. With the student discount, that monthly cost drops to $4.99.

Spotify Premium Student comes with a ton of benefits. 

First and foremost you get on-demand playback. Unlike Spotify Free, which comes with a complimentary abundance of advertisements and forces you into “shuffle play,” you can choose what song you want to listen to, as well as the streaming quality.

Spotify Premium Student also allows you to download your music directly to your device.

Additionally, if you are in the United States, you get Hulu (ad-supported) and Showtime included in your Spotify Premium Student plan.

The student discount doesn’t last forever, however. You can subscribe to Spotify Premium Student for a maximum of four years of study. At the end of the four-year maximum, it doesn’t matter if you are continuing your studies; you will automatically switch back to a normal Spotify Premium subscription unless you cancel.

“Qualifying Students can receive the advertised discounted monthly subscription to the Spotify Premium Service for each month (each a “Discounted Month”) up to a period of twelve (12) consecutive months (“Discount Period”). Qualifying Students are entitled to activate up to a maximum of three (3) additional Discount Periods for themselves by re-submitting their Qualifying Information for re-verification.”

— Spotify Premium Student (Terms and Conditions)

Re-verification of eligibility with SheerID will take place every 12 months. If you do not re-verify your student status, you will be automatically switched back to the normal Spotify Premium rate.

What is SheerID?

SheerID is a third-party digital credential verification platform. In this circumstance, they work with Spotify to verify applicants’ eligibility for Spotify Premium Student.

On top of Spotify, SheerID works with other service providers and companies like YouTube and Deezer.

With SheerID heading the verification process, the Spotify student discount is currently available in 36 countries worldwide (see below for a full list).

Additionally, if you are on your campus and logged in to your college or university’s portal—meaning you are connected to the school’s campus Wi-Fi—you can get instant verification. In this case, you wouldn’t need to provide your student email address and register it on your Spotify account.

How to switch to Spotify Premium Student (from Free)

Going from Spotify Free to Spotify Premium Student is a pretty straightforward process. This is the same thing as signing up for Spotify Premium Student for the first time.

First off, if you haven’t already, create a Spotify account. This can be done in the Spotify app or in a web browser.

After you have created and logged into your account, click the icon in the top right corner of the screen. This will open a dropdown, in which you will click Upgrade to Premium. This will take you to the Spotify Premium upgrade page.

Scroll down until you see “Pick your Premium.” From these options, select Student.

In order to be eligible for Spotify Premium Student, you must first verify yourself as a Qualifying Student through the third-party service Spotify uses: SheerID. Fill out the form completely and then upload a school document that proves you are currently enrolled at the college or university you outlined. Alternatively, if you’re logged in in your campus’ Wi-Fi network, the verification is instant.

After SheerID has gone through your documents and verified you as a Qualifying Student, you can proceed to fill out your payment details to upgrade your account to Spotify Premium Student.

How to switch to Spotify Premium Student (from Premium)

If you are already subscribed to Spotify Premium, it’s very simple to get the student discount.

Click your icon in the top right corner and then navigate to Account.

From there, select Available Plans → Premium for Students.

From here, you must verify yourself as a Qualifying Student through SheerID. Fill out the form and then upload a school document that proves you are currently enrolled at the college or university you outlined.

After SheerID has gone through your documents and verified you as a Qualifying Student, you can proceed to fill out your payment details to switch your account to Spotify Premium Student. 

Now, because your account was already Premium before, you will not be able to take advantage of the three free months. This is an offer currently only available to brand new users who sign up for Spotify Premium Student.

Spotify Premium Student is currently available in 36 different countries around the world. They are as follows: