J.Crew Student Discount: Upgrade & Downgrade

A big "thanks!" to Blumre, who let us know about another email from J.Crew that reminds students about getting 15% off in-stores. (Again, I did not get this email. So I really appreciate Blumre letting us know about this.)

Upgrade: that students are receiving 15% off instead of 10%.

Downgrade: the fine print (which is shown below) that indicates there is a change in policy.
Apparently the student and teacher's discount won't be honored over the phone or online any more. It also sounds like they cannot be applied with any other offer or promotions in-stores either. :( I have to be honest- this upsets me a bit. I have always been able to purchase more (and I mean much more) when I am able to justify buying items on sale with an additional percent off AND my educator's discount.

Update: A big "thanks!" to Anon at 10:55 PM, who is a J.Crew employee, that let us know the following great news:

Hello aficionadas! I work at the J.Crew call center and PLEASE PLEASE know, we DO still honor the 15% discount. What is required to have this discount added is either a) your student email address or b) your email address from the school you teach. You can also email this information to contactus@jcrew.com and have your discount applied after your order has been placed. Please know the full price of the order will be authorized to your card, and then after your order has been shipped, the 15% discount will then be deducted and issued as a credit to your card/ gift card. If you do not have an email address from the school, faxing us your ID will suffice. I really hope that this helps you all out. We here at J.Crew LOVE your blog. Please also know, it is not just used to fix any bugs in our systems. It is also used to see what our customers are saying about us, and for us to learn how we may improve on our customer service. This blog is very well written, and a wonderful way to read. Thank you all so much for your loyal dedication to the J.Crew brand! Happy Shopping!

I am very happy to hear from this J.Crew Employee (which "thank you so much!" for letting us know too.) :)

What do you think of the fine print of this email? What do you think it means (maybe I am interpreting this wrong)? Do you think the policy has changed for the worse or for the better?