SiriusXM's $4 student plan is legit (and, yes, they'll check)

There are two kinds of kids in college. There's the kind who doesn't worry about money — and then there's the rest of us. For the latter, SiriusXM has rolled out an excellent new $4-a-month student plan that gets you Sirius' $13 plan for exactly $9 less.

What's that mean, exactly? It's basically the SiriusXM Premier plan. That gets you SiriusXM everywhere but the car. Want to listen on your phone? Do it. At home? Sure thing. Online — which, uh, is also at home or on your phone or wherever? Yep. You'll also get all that music without advertising. And you'll be able to skip songs on the Xtra channels. Plus you'll also have access to all the news, talk, sports and entertainment channels SiriusXM can throw at you.

Need more? OK. How about Howard Stern? And thousands of shows available on demand. Plus SiriusXM Video. And so much more.

The only catch? You actually have to be a college student to take advantage of it. A Title IV-accredited school, at that. And they're going to check, using the SheerID system.

What's that mean? It means this:

SheerID will collect some basic personal information to confirm your eligibility for the offer. We may also ask you to upload some documentation that substantiates your status and eligibility.To ensure a speedy and successful verification, please pay attention to how you enter your information on the form so that it will match what is seen on the document(s). For example, enter your first and last name on the form as it appears on your school document(s).

So, yeah. It's just one more way for you to be a mooch during what's left of the best years of your life.

The generation that grew up listening to SiriusXM in their parent's car gets its own SiriusXM streaming subscription package for $4 per month

"Student Premier" Package features commercial-free music, plus SiriusXM Video, college conference channels, sports, comedy, news and entertainment, and Personalized Stations Powered by Pandora

Students can listen on a mobile phone, laptop and connected devices including Xbox, PlayStation and devices powered by Amazon Alexa

NEW YORK, Aug. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SiriusXM today announced a new subscription package built for college students. The "Student Premier" package gives college students all the content in SiriusXM's "Premier Streaming" package for $4 per month, a 69% discount off the regular price of Premier Streaming of $12.99 per month. This new Student Premier Package gives subscribers streaming access to content outside their car, on a phone or tablet, at home on connected devices, and online. To subscribe visit www.SiriusXM.com/Student.

"Today's college students grew up listening to SiriusXM in their parent's car, and now we have a package built just for them," said Matt Epstein, Vice President, SiriusXM Outside the Car. "Our Student Premier Package enables students to have their own subscription and continue to enjoy the SiriusXM programming they love in their dorm room, at home or on the go. We're delivering students an incredible selection of content, including the newly launched Personalized Stations Powered by Pandora, Xtra channels, SiriusXM Video, and more, all at a great price."

Listeners who subscribe to the Student Premier Package will have several options for listening to SiriusXM, including on their smartphones and tablets via the SiriusXM app, via the SiriusXM.com web player, and on connected devices in the home or dorm including devices with Amazon Alexa, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV, smart TVs, Sonos speakers, Xbox and Sony PlayStation. Check out the many options at SiriusXM.com/AtHome.

SiriusXM offers an incredibly diverse selection of programming with something for listeners of any age. Subscribers to the Student Premier Package will get SiriusXM's full lineup of music programming, featuring 200+ channels of expertly curated, commercial-free music channels from virtually every genre, plus a huge selection of talk channels that feature sports, entertainment, comedy, lifestyle, news and more.

This includes the latest addition to SiriusXM's lineup – Personalized Stations Powered by Pandora – which deliver SiriusXM subscribers much of the unique functionality that Pandora listeners love most. Within the SiriusXM app and on the streaming web player, subscribers can create their own commercial-free music stations based on the artist or song they are listening to at that moment, or by searching for their favorite artists. In the SiriusXM service, subscribers can then give songs a thumbs up or thumbs down, or skip songs, to create their own personal channel that plays more of what they want based on their unique tastes.

The Student Premier Package also features more than 100 recently added SiriusXM Xtra channels that promise more music and the ability to skip through songs to find just the right one to match the mood or activity. Students can also tune in to exclusive artist-branded music channels like Diplo's Revolution, The Garth Channel and Eminem's Shade 45, concept-based channels like Octane, Pop2K, Hip Hop Nation, The Highway, the new Pandora NOW channel, which showcases the most listened to and fastest-trending new music on Pandora, and many, many more.

In addition, subscribers to the Student Premier Package will get a wide-ranging array of entertainment, news and comedy programming choices, access to several college sports focused channels including ESPNU Radio on SiriusXM, SiriusXM SEC Radio, SiriusXM Big Ten Radio, SiriusXM Big 12 Radio, SiriusXM Pac-12 Radio and SiriusXM ACC Radio, plus other exclusive sports channels such as Barstool Radio, SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio, SiriusXM NBA Radio, and NHL channels.

For more info on what channels are available on various SiriusXM subscriptions, go to www.SiriusXM.com/subscriptions.

Phil Nickinson