Disney appears to have now fully discontinued its Hulu-Only student plan, which previously allowed eligible students to sign up for as little as $1.99 a month. While the standalone Hulu discount is gone, it is still possible for students to save significantly on the cost of the Disney Bundle.
What You Need to Know
- The standalone $1.99/mo Hulu student plan has now been fully discontinued for new sign-ups.
- Students now only have the option to sign up to the Disney+ and Hulu bundle for $6.49/mo.
- The change seems to be part of a broader trend of retiring Hulu-only deals and discounts.
By the start of September, the standard Hulu Student Offer Page changed to remove all mentions of the Hulu-only student tier. Since then, the portal has exclusively promoted the option to sign up for the Disney+ and Hulu Duo Bundle at a discounted rate.
In spite of this change, the ability to sign up for the legacy $1.99 plan was still being promoted through the digital student loyalty and discount platform Student Beans. While that remained the case over the weekend, the Student Beans Hulu Promo Page has also now updated to reflect the discontinuation of the Hulu-only discount.
Now, when a student attempts to claim a Hulu discount through Student Beans, they are only offered the Disney+ and Hulu Student Bundle for $6.49 a month.
Even though this represents a massive 50% discount off the usual price, and unlocks access to two streaming services in the process, it is still significantly more expensive than signing up for just Hulu and only paying $1.99 a month.
Standalone Hulu Discounts Are Becoming a Thing of the Past
As far as Streaming Better understands, existing Hulu student subscribers will continue to retain access to their legacy $1.99 discount. At least for now.
Considering student plans like this typically require re-verification each year, it is possible that a legacy account may not be able to re-verify for the Hulu-only plan in the future.
In this instance, existing subscribers may find they are transitioned to the bundle once their current (or a future) verification cycle expires.
Another caveat to be aware of is switching from the Hulu-only discount to the discounted Disney+ bundle. According to the Hulu Help Center, there’s no option to switch back to the Hulu-only discount after upgrading to the bundle.
The change mirrors recent holiday deals. For years, Hulu ran aggressive Black Friday promotions that dropped the standalone service price to either $0.99 a month or $1.99 a month.
However, Disney shifted gears with last year’s holiday promotion. Instead of discounting Hulu on its own, the Black Friday promo changed to the Disney Bundle (With Ads) for $4.99 a month.
With the student discount having now made the same transition, the era of securing a cheap standalone Hulu subscription appears to be drawing to a close. This also likely means there won’t be any Hulu-only Black Friday doorbuster deals this year either.
Instead, deal-hunters should probably expect this year’s Black Friday deal to be very similar to the new student promotion. Basically, 50% off the usual cost of the bundle, lowering the price down to $6.49 a month for 12 months.
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