Best Back-to-School Discounts for Military Families
With back-to-school season approaching, parents are looking for deals when getting ready for the new school year. Here is a list of the best back-to-school discounts for military families.
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Back-to-School Discounts for Military Families
These include student and military discounts to help you save this coming school year.
Operation Homefront’s Back-to-School Brigade
Operation Homefront has an amazing program to give out backpacks and school supplies. Since they have started this campaign, they have given out 350,000 backpacks over the last 10 years. Operation Homefront and Dollar Tree, Inc have joined forces to give out these supplies to military children nationwide. Visit Operation Homefront to find out if there is one near you.
Tutor.com
Tutor.com offers online tutoring and homework help. DoD service members, civilian personnel, and all dependent family members from kindergarten to college/adult can use it at zero cost. With Tutor.com, you or your child can connect with a live expert 24/7.
Before this special offer, dependents in grades K-12 of the following qualified:
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- Active Duty Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.
- Active/Full-time or Deployed National Guard or Air National Guard, or Reserves.
- Wounded Warrior/Survivors
- Coast Guard who are attending schools operated and funded by the DoDEA
- Department of Defense Civilian personnel currently deployed to CENTCOM AORs, including but not limited to Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.
This program is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and Coast Guard Mutual Assistance.
For more info, please see the Tutor.com official site.
Apple Military and Student Discounts
With Apple, you can find both student and military discounts. The Education discounts are for about 4-5% off and apply to MacBooks, iMacs, and iPads. Military discounts may apply to MacBooks, iMacs, iPads, iPhones, Apple Watches, Apple TVs, and Apple Music products. Offers and options are subject to change at any time.
For more info, please see the Apple official site for .edu pricing or the Apple official site for military discounts.
Scholastic
Scholastic is an American publishing, education, and media company known for publishing, selling, and distributing books and educational materials. They have free printables for all ages. These printables cover reading, writing, math, and science, starting with Pre-K.
For more info, please see the Scholastic official site.
Backpacks
You can find military and student discounts on backpacks at stores such as:
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- Pottery Barn Kids
- Vera Bradley
- Bass Pro Shops
- Jansport
- Society 6
Shoes with Military Discounts
With a new school year ahead, you want to find discounts on shoes.
10%-25% Off with a Military Discount
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- Rack Room Shoes
- New Balance
- Journey’s
- Foot Locker
- Lady Foot Locker
- Nike
- Converse
10 and 20% Off with a Student Discount
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- Adidas
- Nike
- Toms
- Converse
- New Balance
Tax-Free Weekends
Don’t forget about the tax-free weekends. Certain states have a tax-free weekend to coincide with back-to-school shopping. The dates can vary, some are just a weekend and others can be up to a week.
Tax-free items usually include items such as:
- Clothing
- Computers
- Software
- School supplies
- Books
- Footwear
However, it does depend on the state.
Back-To-School Tax-Free Weekends
Your back-to-school tax-free weekends may be happening soon if you live in one of the following states:
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- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Iowa
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- New Mexico
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- West Virginia
AAFES Tax-Free Weekend
If you shop at AAFES, you can gain additional savings during their tax-free weekend promotion.
AAFES normally offers tax-free shopping as an everyday benefit to military families. During tax-free weekends, they will be offering an additional discount.
The percentage off will be based on your state and the state tax rate. During their tax-free weekend, you can save that additional amount. This is valid for in-store purchases only on clothing, shoes, computers, and school supplies.
For more info on AAFES Tax-Free Weekend. Or visit the AAFES site to learn more.
Exchange Price Matching
Take advantage of the Exchange Price Matching you can find at your local Exchange. AAFES (Army and Air Force Exchange Service,) NEX (Navy Exchange Services,) and MCX (Marine Corps Exchange) all have this program. You can apply this to Express, Class Six, Car Care, Troop Stores, and shopmyexchange.com.
CONUS and non-foreign OCONUS facilities cannot price-match online sites other than shopmyexchange.com.
The price match must be from a local competitor. This means they must be a retailer doing business in the community where the Exchange is located.
The item must be identical, with the same brand, manufacturer, features, size, color, and manufacturer’s model number. Items must be in stock at the select authorized online retailer’s website when the request for the price match is made. You can visit the Exchange official site for more information.
You can also check if any of your favorite companies offer free shipping during the back-to-school season. Many stores will also be offering special deals during this time of year.
RELATED:
- Back-to-School Discounts for Military and Veteran Students
- Preparing for Back-to-School as a New Student
- Best Student Discounts for Veterans and Military
- Southwest Military Discount
- Colleges with Reduced Tuition for Military
- The Best Dorm Room Shopping Tips for Parents
>> For more great military and veteran discounts direct to your inbox, sign up for the Military and Veteran Discounts Newsletter! It’s free from our sister site, MyMilitaryBenefits.com. Start saving!
About the author
Julie Provost is a freelance writer, and blogger. She lives in Tennessee with her National Guard husband and three boys.