<p>Lots of parents threads mention that membership with Amazon prime is helpful for college kids with textbook purchases as well as movie streaming and access to e-books on their laptops etc.</p>
<p>Question: which is the best way to join - you, the parent become the member and add the student as a guest on your membership? Or is it better for the student to directly join and use their campus address (which would have to be changing year to year)? Does the student then have to have a separate credit card associated with that account than the parent’s regular amazon membership?</p>
<p>I realize that this appears a basic idiotic question, but I just don’t know if there are savings or credit considerations of one way over the other.</p>
<p>Students get 6 months free, but unless they’ve changed things in the year or two since mine ran out, they don’t get free streaming along with it. Students also can’t have guests on their account, so your Amazon account couldn’t be a guest through his. They do, however, usually offer the first year of regular Prime to students for half price.</p>
<p>I’ve found you can send to multiple address without separate accounts…just change the ship to address…has worked for us, not sure if it supposed to work that way.</p>
<p>It’s not an idiotic question at all. I was wondering the same thing particularly with regard to the student credit card issue. Following the credit card act of 2009 it is much harder for kids under 21 to qualify for a card in their own right, and I’m a bit wary of having a “piggy back” credit card on my account for my son when he goes off to college. I trust him to be sensible but I’m not sure how secure the card information would be in an environment of unlocked dorm rooms and wi-fi. Is it possible to have an amazon prime student account in child’s name but paid for by a parent credit card?</p>
<p>He can use his debit card. Or I would imagine you don’t have to save a card on the account at all - just munually enter it when you want to buy something. It works the same way as an Amazon account. So I don’t know why you couldn’t use a parent credit card, but he’d either have to have all your credit card information or you would have to have his amazon prime account number and password.</p>
<p>Never, ever, ever use a debit card online - credit card only! Debit cards have much different protection rules (i.e. virtually none) in case of a breach.</p>
<p>H has an Amazon prime account. I don’t know how it works for movie streaming or e-books. For other purchases our kids just use H’s account and change the ship to address. I am certain changing the ship to address is standard as I’ve used it for gifts.</p>
<p>Our son got the Amazon prime through his college e-mail with my Amazon credit card as the primary card. He has his own credit card that he uses when he buys something. He also has to forward e-mails to me from amazon when I purchase thing, which really does limit surprises. I have my own amazon account (not prime) so sometimes I use that. Since it’s been much longer then the original free six months he now pays the regular student price, which I think is lower then what we would pay. We don’t use the streaming feature since we stream with netflix, but I think my son might.</p>
<p>Not really. Maybe that was true 20 years ago, but certainly not today. Actually they have exactly the same protection rules as credit cards. The only downside is that if money goes missing, it takes some time to get the money back into your account. If you were using a credit card, you wouldn’t have paid yet, so you don’t lose anything even temporarily.</p>
<p>You are misinformed. The liability limits and notification requirements are very different. I’m addition, lets say your debit card is compromised and your checking account is drained and you incur overdrafts. You will incur overdraft fees. So not only do you have no $ in your checking account for a period of time but the overdraft fees you incur you are liable for! Not to mention the fees that a merchant can charge for a bounced check. </p>
<p>I work in banking I know what I’m talking about. But if you don’t believe me then here is info from the FDIC:</p>
<p>Thanks all for the replies! Haven’t decided quite yet how to proceed but might need to start with getting a credit card for student first. Alternatively, at least for Amazon, perhaps a gift certificate of a set dollar amount would work to establish a separate account with history and develop student purchasing/financial management skills.</p>
<p>Iron Maiden, do any precautions apply for a bank ATM/Visa card? </p>
<p>My son currently has a savings account only so the ATM is only an ATM. He would like to make purchases on line using the Visa part of the ATM card so he doesn’t have to keep paying me back when he uses the card in his name that is attached to my account.</p>
<p>Back to the OP, I have an amazon student prime account and my mom uses it. We both have credit cards linked on the account and when she wants something, she just emails me what she wants and I shipped it to her with her CC. </p>
<p>There’s no credit issues. Having an amazon account doesn’t affect credit in and of itself. It’s MUCH cheaper to have a student account.</p>
<p>Perhaps I’m repeating what others have said but my D has Amazon prime (free) and, for whatever reason, she’s going on 2 years now. She has her own credit card and address listed and I have mine. When she buys something sanctioned by me, she clicks on my cc and her address; when she buys something for herself (i.e. not textbooks, which I pay for), she clicks on her cc. I know her log in info and do the same – I just make sure to use my cc so she doesn’t get billed for my purchases and make sure to send the item to my address. We have, on occasion, not paid attention and charged the wrong cc but we just settle with one another. We use it pretty often and really appreciate it – it’s incredibly easy and straight-forward. LOVE Amazon!</p>