Hillsdale College students may no longer qualify for Spotify student discounts.
Several Hillsdale College students were denied the $4.99-per-month deal on premium accounts for the music streaming service offered to college students, because Hillsdale is not a Title IV institution, meaning it doesn’t accept federal money. Students still were denied, even after going through Spotify’s manual student verification process with SheerID Inc.
“Unfortunately, this offer is only being extended to students enrolled in the winter or Spring 2017 term at any Title IV U.S. College/University located in the United States,” Victor of the SheerID verification team said in an email to junior Chandler Lasch, when she was denied renewal of the student discount last week. “As a third party service, we must follow the guidelines set by Spotify.”
Spotify’s terms and conditions state the discount is offered to “students at a U.S. Title IV accredited institution located in the United States.” Aunika, a SheerID verification team member who said she could not share her last name, told The Collegian that Spotify updated its terms within the past year.
“Right now, for this school year, we are to approve only Title IV institutions,” Aunika said.
Spotify did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Spotify Premium allows subscribers to download music and avoid advertisements that the service’s free version includes. Without the discount, it costs $9.99 per month.
In the fall, SheerID and Spotify told The Collegian that they were aware Hillsdale students have to manually verify their enrollment to receive the student discount. SheerID uses a database from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, which only includes Title IV institutions, to approve student enrollment.
The manual verification process requires students to supply school-issued documentation providing their name, an issue date of the current term, and their college’s name. Hillsdale students said they were successful in qualifying for the discount by submitting a transcript or class schedule as recent as the fall semester.
But according to SheerID, that should no longer be the case.
“SheerID verifies eligibility based on our customer’s specified verification requirements,” Katie Kellar, SheerID manager of strategic communications, said in an email. “As such, we have continued to improve our technology and processes to ensure eligibility is accurate based on the specified [terms and conditions].”
Aunika said the updates to SheerID’s verification system occur frequently.
Nonetheless, a Collegian reporter submitted copies of an unofficial transcript, class schedule, and student ID to SheerID to be approved for the student discount on Saturday. An email from the SheerID verification team approved the request, and the reporter was able to access Spotify Premium for the lower rate.
Aunika from SheerID said the request should not have been approved and that all team members have been informed that they should not accept requests from students at non-Title IV institutions.
Students who were denied the discount said they were disappointed and frustrated by the change in policy.
Last month, SheerID denied the request of junior Razi Lane to renew his student discount because Hillsdale is not a Title IV institution, he said. It happened as he was making road trip preparations with his father and brother to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where his brother attends. Since West Point is in SheerID’s database, Lane now uses his brother’s account.
“Spotify’s decision to extend its student discount exclusively to schools which accept federal funding is poor execution of a noble motivation,” Lane said. “While I expect reasonable vetting for colleges whose students seek the discount, Spotify’s federal funding metric dismisses reputable colleges, such as Hillsdale and Grove City College, absent any consideration of their educational merit. I think that Spotify should use the Department of Education’s accreditation as its standard. If it’s good enough for graduate schools, it should satisfy Spotify.”
After Lasch received her denial email for renewing her discount, she contacted Spotify on Twitter.
“We’re afraid that since SheerID are the ones taking care of the verification for the student discount, there isn’t much we can do,” Spotify said in a response to her direct message. “Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to let the right folks know that you’d like to see it available at more schools.”
Lasch said she is now using Spotify’s free version and that she doesn’t understand how attending a Title IV institution relates to the service Spotify offers.
“It’s really frustrating, especially since I reached out to them,” Lasch said. “The Twitter handle I talked to was called @SpotifyCares, and I’m not convinced they do.”
