Verified students and teachers get 20% off a Grand Theft Auto 6 Standard Edition preorder at Target, dropping the $79.99 price to about $60.79 with a RedCard.
Target is running its seasonal college student and teacher discount and it works on Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders. Verified students get 20% off one storewide purchase, and if you stack it with a Target RedCard, the $79.99 Standard Edition drops to about $60.79 before tax, which is nearly the same price as Grand Theft Auto V when it first came out in 2013.
This is all made possible via the Target Circle program. It's a college student appreciation discount from the retail giant. If you verify that you are a student, you get 20% off a single purchase. Unlike many "deals" that require buying discounted gift cards elsewhere and stacking them, this is a straightforward coupon applied at checkout. Teachers get the same option through the same process, so this is not just for students.
You do not even need a school email, a personal one works, though Target may ask for documentation in some cases, and it's often approved right away. Once done, you can find the coupon in your Target Circle wallet. Make sure to select and apply it at checkout to get the discount because it doesn't apply automatically.
How the Target GTA 6 Discount Stacks Up
| Discount Applied | Effective Price (Before Tax) |
|---|---|
None (list price) | $79.99 |
20% student or teacher coupon | ~$63.99 |
20% coupon plus 5% RedCard | ~$60.79 |
The price of GTA 6 Standard Edition at Target after the student or teacher coupon and RedCard, before tax.
The base 20% off already knocks a real chunk off, and the RedCard adds another 5% on top, but only if you have or want the card. If you do not have a RedCard, do not open one just for this. A store credit card is a long-term commitment for a one-time $4 of extra savings on this purchase, and that math almost never works in your favor. The 20% student coupon on its own is the genuinely good part here. The RedCard stack is a nice bonus if you already carry one.
A couple of caveats worth knowing before you get excited. This is a one-time-use coupon per verified account during the promo window, so you get one 20% purchase, not unlimited. Availability and stacking can vary by account and location, and some people have had to manually add the coupon or troubleshoot it at checkout.
Unfortunately, it's US-focused, so international students are unlikely to get it to work.
Also, in case you've lived under a rock for the past two weeks, the physical copy you pre-order at Target is a case with a download code. Pre-load access starts November 12, with the full release and in-store pickup on November 19. Also note that Target does not sell the Ultimate Edition as a physical pre-order, so the student coupon applies to the $79.99 Standard only. If you want Ultimate, the common workaround is to buy the Standard cheaply here, then pay the roughly $20 digital upgrade separately on the PlayStation or Xbox store, ideally using discounted gift cards from elsewhere to shave that down too.
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This is a legitimately good discount, one of the cleaner ones out there. If you are a student or a teacher who already planned to get the game, this is close to the best straightforward price you will find. It is also a little ironic that the smartest way to soften GTA 6's much-debated $80 price tag is a student coupon, because it just shows how high that base price actually feels to the people most likely to want the game. Students and younger players are a huge part of the Grand Theft Auto audience, and they are also the ones for whom $80 stings most.
The deal is real and worth using. It is also a small symptom of the broader pricing tension around the most anticipated launch of the decade.
Fans are currently hunting for every deal right now, from rewards points to gift-card stacking to, now, student discounts. The demand is so high that an entire cottage industry of money-saving tricks has grown up around a game that does not even release until November. If you qualify, the Target student coupon is one of the simplest of those tricks, just verify, apply it at checkout, and confirm it stuck before you pay.