How does the free accessory discount work for students?

AFAIK, Apple's "free" Apple Pencil Pro with the student (Back‑to‑School or Education) promo is set up more like a bundled discount than a straightforward rebate.

I believe how it typically works is like the following:

• You pay for both items initially. At checkout, you’ll see charges for the iPad Air and the Apple Pencil Pro in your cart.
• Apple instantly applies the Pencil’s value as a discount. The savings is equal to the price of the Apple Pencil Pro so that amount is deducted from your iPad Air price right away.
• Net effect = you get both, but only pay for the iPad. In effect, your total out-of-pocket is what you would’ve paid for the iPad alone (post-education discount). This works the same whether paying outright or using Apple Card Monthly Installments (ACMI).

Alternately, you can always just contact Apple Sales directly to get the "official" answer.

The free offer works like this…

If you accept the offer of receiving a free Apple Pencil, the final sales invoice will include the cost of the pencil - however, the cost of the iPad will be reduced by this amount.

If you opt-out of receiving the free Apple Pencil, the sales invoice will show the full cost of the iPad.

Either with or without the “free” Apple Pencil, the final cost will be the same. Apple structures their prices in this way to prevent fraudulent returns for credit that inflate the return value.

You're very welcome. This pricing structure has caught many - believing that they are being charged for their "free" Pencil, missing the equivalent discount being applied to the iPad. 🙂