Back to School Discounts for Military Families

Guest Contributor & MilSpouse, Allison Hester

With school starting back up, it is helpful to know where you can save on school supplies, clothing, backpacks, and other necessities. Military Families have many great options and access to discounts, both in-person and online, to save some extra money at the start of the new school year. For families not there yet, finding affordable care before kids reach school age is the harder budget problem.

A lot of popular stores and brands offer military and/or student discounts if you show your ID. Examples include Office Depot, Michaels, Footlocker, Shoe Carnival, Academy Sports, Old Navy, Eddie Bauer, and many others. The best thing I have found to do when shopping is to either look the store up online ahead of time or just ask when you are checking out.

However, there are some other unique back-to-school offers for military and students that you may not be aware of. Check them out here.

Back to School Brigade

First, for Military Families facing financial struggles, Project New Hope, Inc., can help. Each year, their Back-to-School Brigade campaign partners with Dollar Tree and Operation Homefront to collect and distribute supplies to eligible Military Families. Children can receive a backpack filled with school supplies.

ID.me

A growing number of outlets require that you enroll with ID.me before you can gain access to military discounts, particularly for shopping online. It works similarly to flashing your military ID in the store, but some stores also require being enrolled for shopping on-site. A neat feature is that you can add the ID.me extension to Chrome on your computer so that you automatically know when a discount exists. ID.me also offers exclusive discounts, so search their website for specific stores.

Here are a few ID.me examples:

• Dell: 10% off PCs and electronics for military families.
• Sam’s Club: Through ID.me, Sam’s Club offers special military prices on membership fees, which are lower than the discount you will find at the store. These offers vary.
• Reebok: Military and students both get a whopping 50% off through ID.me. Wow!
• Target: Target Circle members verified through ID.me can get a percentage off one qualifying storewide purchase during their back-to-school promotion window each summer. Check the Target Circle military offer page for current dates.

Microsoft: Both military and student discounts of 5% to 10% are available on qualifying Microsoft products. The biggest benefit is that students and the military can get Office 365 for free.

Tutor.com: Through this program, military members and their families can get free online tutoring 24/7 in over 150 courses, ranging from kindergarten through college and beyond, at no cost to the family.

Don’t Skip Your State’s Tax-Free Weekend

Most states hold a sales tax holiday for school supplies, clothing, and sometimes computers sometime in late July or early August, and a handful run it longer. The exact dates, the item categories covered, and the price caps per item are all set state by state and change every year, so check your state department of revenue’s website before you shop to confirm what qualifies. If your state does not offer one, it’s worth checking whether a neighboring state does and whether the trip is worth the gas money for a big purchase like a laptop.

Education Benefits That Help at Back-to-School Time

Finally, as I am writing this, my son is getting ready to start his first year of college, thanks in large part to one of the biggest back-to-school military benefits out there, the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Through this amazing program, qualifying service members who have completed at least 6 years of service and agree to serve 4 more can transfer up to 36 months of unused benefits to a spouse, a child, or split across multiple dependents, and the transfer has to be requested and approved while still on active duty. That includes the cost of in-state tuition, books, and, once a child reaches high school graduation age (or turns 18) and the sponsor has 10 qualifying years of service, a monthly housing allowance for that child too. It is an amazing program and one I highly recommend looking into if you have not already. It will be a game-changer for my Military Family. Their resilience gets its own recognition each April, and the challenges military kids carry is worth reading alongside this.

If your family is weighing a bigger back-to-school expense, like a first laptop for college or licensing costs for a spouse going back to school themselves, it helps to have already built a little cushion for it. Our guide to weekly budgeting walks through a simple system for setting money aside for expenses you can see coming, like the start of a new school year.

For Spouses Going Back to School Too

Back-to-school season is not just about kids. If a PCS move interrupted a spouse’s own education or career plans, late summer is a natural time to look into a certification, license, or degree program before the new school year gets busy. Our guide to portable careers for military spouses covers scholarship options and career paths that can move with your family to the next duty station.

Overseas and DoDEA Families Have a Different Shopping List

Not every military family is shopping at a stateside big-box store this time of year. If your kids attend a Department of Defense Education Activity school overseas, supply lists and uniform requirements can look different from a stateside public school, and some of the retailers above either do not ship internationally or charge steep shipping fees. Check with your installation’s exchange first. The exchange often carries the same brands at the same military discount, without the overseas shipping cost, and can special order items that are not in stock.

If your family is between duty stations during the move, keep receipts for school-related purchases. Some PCS moves qualify for certain relocation expense reimbursements, and a paper trail makes that process easier even when the school costs themselves are not reimbursable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to re-enroll with ID.me every school year?

No. Once your military status is verified with ID.me, that verification carries over between retailers that use the same system. You only need to re-verify if your account lapses or if a specific retailer asks for a fresh check.

What if my state does not have a tax-free weekend?

A few states do not offer one at all. If you live near a state that does, and the purchase is large enough (a laptop or a season of sports equipment, for example), the savings can be worth a short trip. For everyday school supplies, the military and student discounts above usually make up the difference either way.

Can my spouse or I use the GI Bill for our own continuing education while the kids are in school?

The Post-9/11 GI Bill transfer described above covers a spouse or child, but it is only one option. A MyCAA scholarship, recently rebranded as the SpouseWorks Scholarship, is a separate program specifically for eligible military spouses pursuing a license, certification, or associate degree, and it does not draw down the service member’s own GI Bill benefit.

About the Author

Allison Hester has been a Military Spouse for 25 years. Her husband, Michael, serves full-time in the National Guard and spent two year-long tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, starting when their two children were toddlers. Allison has been a professional freelance writer and graphic designer for 23 years.

The Bottom Line

Back-to-school costs add up fast for a military family, but between military and student discounts at major retailers, a state tax-free weekend, community programs like the Back-to-School Brigade, and education benefits like the Post-9/11 GI Bill, there is real money to save if you plan ahead. Enroll with ID.me before the shopping starts, check your state’s tax holiday dates, and see what The Edge offers for budgeting the rest of the school year.

This article is general education, not individualized financial advice. Your situation is your own, and a decision this size deserves a conversation with someone who knows the details.