Technologies

How to Get Free Marvel Rivals Skins With the College Perks Program in Season 4

Crush your fall classes and style on your Marvel Rivals opponents at the same time. Here’s how the noble pursuit of higher education can net you free skins.

You might be subsisting off ramen noodles and Red Bull, but that doesn’t mean you need to look broke while you’re playing your games. NetEase has introduced Marvel Rivalsperks for college and university students that let them wear some of the coolest in-game costumes for free.

All you need is a valid student email and the know-how to navigate the in-game menus. Linking your NetEase account with your college’s domain is a simple process that doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes. Most US schools should be on NetEase’s list, qualifying their students for the program, but keep reading to see how others can petition for their own skins.

The currently available college perk lets you get free loaner costumes and MVP animations, but there are no details about how the program will evolve in the future. This is a good way to earn some free loot outside of events, Twitch drops and other promotions.

Here’s all the information about how to join NetEase’s college perks program — and what skins you’ll be able to wear throughout Marvel Rivals season 4.

What Marvel Rivals college perks are available right now?

The current Marvel Rivals college perk allows you to link your student email with your NetEase account to temporarily unlock 10 free costumes (and their associated MVP highlights) for use throughout Season 4.

Activating college perks right now will let you use the following skins until the end of the season:

Thor Love and Thunder
Luna Snow Mirae 2099
Spider-Man Spider-Punk 2099
Magik Eldritch Armor
Psylocke Blood Kariudo
Mantis Jade Maiden
Loki Presidential Attire
Mr. Fantastic The Maker
Peni Parker Yatsukahagi
Hela Yami No Karasu

It’s unclear whether additional college perks will be available in the future, though you’ll at least be able to unlock a rotating wardrobe of trial skins through the program during future Marvel Rivals seasonal updates.

How to unlock Marvel Rivals college perks

Accessing the college perks is fairly straightforward and doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes of your time, but it’s tucked away in a menu you probably don’t access all that often. Here’s a step-by-step guide to unlock college perks on your Marvel Rivals account:

Open Marvel Rivals and navigate to the main menu
Click the gear icon at the top right of the screen to open the game’s settings. The gear icon is located near your profile picture and player level.
Click the «community» button in the drop-down menu.
Navigate to the third tab for college perks, then click the «details» button.
Enter your student email address and get a verification code.
Find the verification code in your college email and copy and paste it into the in-game text box beneath your student email.
Click the «verify» button.

That’s all there is to it — once you’re done with this process, you should have access to the Marvel Rivals college perks, and all 10 of the loaner costumes and MVP animations should be available for you to equip.

Detailed guide: Getting free Marvel Rivals skins and MVP animations through college perks

In order to activate Marvel Rivals college perks for your NetEase account, you’ll have to verify that you’re in possession of an active student email address for a supported academic institution.

To begin this process, you need to navigate the same in-game menus that allow you to link your Discord account and become a NetEase Gamer Premium member — you’ve likely poked around here in the past to claim a handful of free units, Marvel Rivals’ premium costume-buying currency.

When you’re in the main menu, click the gear icon at the top right of the screen. It’s one of the buttons next to your account picture and profile level. Then, click the Community button that appears on screen. Navigate to the College Perks tab and click the details button to start verifying your student email.

All you need to do is enter your student email address, request a verification code to be sent to your email and then input that verification code in-game. Voila — just like that, you’ll have access to college perks on your Marvel Rivals account.

If your email doesn’t work, it might be because it isn’t on the list of domains currently supported by the college perks program. You can see which school emails work here (PDF). If you go to school in the US, you shouldn’t have a problem signing up for the program — it’s on the list of countries that have generally accepted academic email domains.

Even still, if you’re having trouble registering and it looks like your college or university is missing from the list, you’re not completely out of luck. NetEase is having the Marvel Rivals support team field requests from students to add more domains to the program.

To send in a support request to get Marvel Rivals college perks for your school, click the customer support link under the in-game settings. If you provide your country, university name and student email domain, NetEase will work to ensure that your school is added to the program. The list of supported colleges and universities is updated weekly, so don’t fret if your verification doesn’t work right away.

If you’re interested in what other free skins you can (permanently) unlock in Marvel Rivals, we have a comprehensive free skin guide too.

Reverify your email to keep college perks

Even if you signed up for the college perks reward system upon its release in season 3, you may have missed a crucial season 4 announcement that revealed that you won’t keep these benefits indefinitely. Instead, to keep the college perks and the new suite of loaner costumes, you’ll need to reverify your student email.

This isn’t especially difficult, though it is rather annoying. In order to re-up your college perks access, you just need to follow the above guide’s steps once again. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on whether or not you have access to the current perks, because NetEase retains the right to remove them from your account and ask you to reverify your email at any time.

It’s currently unclear whether or not this email reverification process will need to be completed each season, but we’ll have more information during the ramp up to Marvel Rivals season 5. Stay tuned for more information as it comes down the pipeline.

FAQs

Technologies

Your Pixel 10 Might Have Issues With Older Wireless Chargers

You might want to try taking the case off your phone in order to successfully charge it.

When Google introduced the Pixel 10 lineup in August, it became one of the first major Android phones to receive the Qi 2 wireless charging standard, which Google calls Pixelsnap. However, users noticed issues with wireless charging on the Pixel 10 almost immediately after its release.

Some people are having trouble charging their phone with the new Pixelsnap charger, and others are having issues with older wireless chargers, including Google’s own Pixel Stands. The bulk of the problems happen when a case is on the phone — whether it has the magnet array or not.

I own both the first and second generation Pixel Stands and both will charge my Pixel 10 Pro XL without an issue if there’s no case on it. However, when I add a case to my phone, the problems begin.

I have three cases for my phone, the Mous Super Thin Clear Case, the Magnetic Slim Case Fit by Grecazo, and a no-name soft TPU case. If my phone has any of those cases on and I attempt to charge it while it’s vertical, it starts to charge and then stops after a second or two, and keeps doing that.

I can fix this for the first-generation Pixel Stand by turning the phone horizontal, but it will still charge very slowly. I can’t seem to fix it at all for the Pixel Stand 2 — vertical, horizontal, it doesn’t charge.

Not everyone has this issue

The problem doesn’t seem to be universal. CNET editor Patrick Holland said he had no issues charging the Pixel 10 Pro during his time with it.

A Google spokesperson told me the Pixel 10 lineup is not optimized for older Qi wireless charging standards, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the phones won’t work with older wireless chargers.

Qi 2 is backwards-compatible with older standards, but the phone’s height and charging coil placement on both the phone and the charger are still factors. If you’re having problems, you might see if removing the case helps.

The prospect of potentially needing to replace your older wireless chargers with newer ones isn’t ideal, especially if you shelled out $80 for one or both of Google’s own Pixel Stands. Still, if you want the best wireless charging speed for your brand new Pixel 10 phone, it won’t be with wireless chargers that only support older Qi standards.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Sept. 19, #361

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Sept. 19, No. 361.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

The yellow category in Connections: Sports Edition is always easy, but today’s seemed like a no-brainer. The other categories aren’t too tough, either, especially for midwesterners. But if you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Spotted on TV.

Green group hint: Unusual team names.

Blue group hint: Air Jordan.

Purple group hint: The Big House is another one.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Things seen on an NFL sideline.

Green group: NBA teams with singular nicknames.

Blue group: Teams Michael Jordan played for.

Purple group: Big Ten stadiums.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is things seen on an NFL sideline. The four answers are benches, chains, coaches and medical tent.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is NBA teams with singular nicknames. The four answers are Heat, Jazz, Magic and Thunder.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams Michael Jordan played for. The four answers are Barons, Bulls, UNC and Wizards.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Big Ten stadiums. The four answers are Beaver, Camp Randall, Ohio and Spartan.

Technologies

AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods Pro 2: Should You Upgrade?

Here’s a look at the key differences between Apple’s latest flagship noise-canceling earbuds compared with their predecessor.

With Apple releasing the AirPods Pro 3, folks who already own the AirPods Pro 2 may be wondering whether it’s worth upgrading.

A good portion of my full review of the AirPods Pro 3 is devoted to discussing the differences between the two models. Here’s how I conclude my review: «Several new features, such as Live Translation, will be available for the AirPods Pro 2, so many AirPods Pro 2 owners won’t feel the need to upgrade right away. But if you’ve been using AirPods Pro 2 for a while, it might be worth passing them on to a friend or relative and upgrading to the Pro 3s.»

Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2025

AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods Pro 2: What’s stayed the same

The AirPods Pro 3’s list price is still $249 (£219, AU$429). That wasn’t a given with all the uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration tariffs, but we’ll see how the price shakes out on Amazon and other retailers, where AirPods models often get discounted.
The AirPods Pro 3 are powered by Apple’s H2 chip, the same one that powers the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 and Beats Powerbeats Pro 2. Rumors pointed to an H3 chip, but that didn’t happen.
No new color options; white is still the only option.
The AirPods Pro 3 stick with Bluetooth 5.3, just like the AirPods Pro 2 (though some true-wireless earbuds have already jumped to Bluetooth 6.0).
The buds still feature a MagSafe charging case with USB-C and wireless charging. However, no USB-C charging cable is included (Apple also left out a charging cable with the AirPods 4, though most people have a USB-C cable).

AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods Pro 2: What’s changed

While they look similar to the previous model, the AirPods Pro 3 have been redesigned. Their geometric shape has changed a bit, with the angle of the bud shifted. They’re the same length but slightly smaller width-wise, slightly larger depth-wise and weigh a touch more (5.55 grams vs. 5.3 grams on the AirPods Pro 2).
The AirPods Pro 3 come with new foam-infused silicone eartips in five sizes, including a new extra-extra small size.
The AirPods Pro 3 are equipped with heart-rate sensors like the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2.
2x better noise cancellation compared to the AirPods Pro 2, according to Apple.
While the AirPods Pro 3 have 10.7mm drivers like the AirPods Pro 2, those drivers have been upgraded to take advantage of the buds’ new multiport acoustic architecture, which moves more air through the buds and improves sound quality.
The AirPods Pro 3’s microphones have been upgraded.
The AirPods Pro 3’s Transparency Mode has been enhanced.
New Live Translation feature (also available for the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 series, but not the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2).
The AirPods Pro 3’s battery life has improved to 8 hours with noise cancellation on and up to 10 hours in Hearing Aid mode with transparency on. The AirPods Pro 2 are rated for up to 6 hours of battery life with noise-canceling on.
Instead of being IPX4 splash-proof like the AirPods Pro 2, the AirPods Pro 3 got an IP57 rating (so did their charging case), which means they can withstand a sustained spray of water. (I poured water on them and they survived just fine.) They’re also dust-resistant.
The AirPods Pro’s case now includes a U2 chip, boosting Precision Finding range in the Find My app by 1.5x (requires an iPhone 17). The AirPods Pro 2’s case has the U1 chip.
Like with the AirPods 4, the AirPods Pro 3’s case no longer has a button for Bluetooth pairing. You simply double-tap on the front of the case to put the buds into Bluetooth pairing mode. The AirPods Pro 2 have a physical button for Bluetooth pairing.

The AirPods Pro 3’s new geometric shape and eartips are among the biggest changes

While the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods Pro 2 look very similar at first glance, they do feel different in your ears. That’s because the AirPods Pro 3’s new eartips are made of silicone but infused with foam toward the front of the ear tip. Also, the angle of the bud has been adjusted so the eartips point more directly into your ear canals.

If you’re someone who couldn’t quite get a good fit with the original AirPods Pro or Pro 2, the new design could very well help you get a snugger, more secure fit. The fact is that a tight seal is crucial for optimal sound and noise-canceling performance, and Apple redesigned the eartips to make sure users could hear the sound and noise-canceling upgrades with the AirPods Pro 3.

Alas, the new AirPods Pro 3 tips don’t work with earlier AirPods Pro models; they attach differently.

Do you really need the AirPods Pro 3’s heart-rate monitoring?

I personally don’t feel that heart-rate monitoring is a must-have feature, particularly if you already own a smartwatch with the feature. But for some folks, it will be a welcome addition. The heart-rate sensors have been custom-designed for the AirPods Pro 3 (they’re Apple’s smallest heart-rate sensors) and aren’t identical to the ones in the Powerbeats Pro 2, but the experience using the heart-rate monitoring feature is the same.

How much better are the AirPods Pro 3 than the AirPods Pro 2?

It’s always hard to put an exact percentage on how improved one generation of a product is to the next, and there are always some people who will prefer the older model for whatever reason. But for me, the AirPods Pro 3 are about 20-25% better.

While they both use the H2 chip, the newest AirPods have been redesigned on the outside and inside, and most people should notice the improvements to sound quality, noise cancellation and fit.

If you own the original AirPods Pro, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend upgrading, especially if your battery life has decreased.

If you’re happy with your AirPods Pro 2, there’s no hurry to upgrade unless your battery life has become an issue (some people have the older AirPods Pro 2 with a Lightning connector for charging instead of USB-C). The previous generation supports most of the same features as the AirPods Pro 3 (aside from heart-monitoring), including Live Translation and Hearing Aid mode.

It’s worth pointing out that the AirPods Pro 3 offer slightly better speech clarity for Hearing Aid mode (with Automatic Conversation Boost) and better battery life — up to 10 hours with Transparency and Hearing Aid mode. That makes the AirPods 3 the better choice if you have small to moderate hearing loss and plan to use your AirPods as hearing aids.

AirPods Pro 2 vs. AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods 4 with ANC spec comparison

	AirPods Pro 2	AirPods Pro 3	AirPods 4 with ANC
Weight (each earbud)	0.19 ounce (5.13 grams)	0.20 ounce (5.5 grams)	0.15 ounce (4.3 grams)
Weight (case)	1.79 ounces (50.8 grams)	1.55 ounces (43.99 grams)	1.22 ounces (34.7 grams)
Water resistant	IPX4	IP57	IP54
Sensors	Skin-detect sensor, Optical in-ear sensor, Motion-detecting accelerometer, Speech-detecting accelerometer, Force sensor	Skin-detect sensor, Optical in-ear sensor, Motion-detecting accelerometer, Speech-detecting accelerometer, Force sensor, heart-rate sensor	Optical in-ear sensor, Motion-detecting accelerometer, Speech-detecting accelerometer, Force sensor
Microphones	Dual beamforming microphones, inward-facing microphone	Dual beamforming microphones, inward-facing microphone	Dual beamforming microphones, inward-facing microphone
Chip	H2	H2	H2
Conectivity	Bluetooth 5.3	Bluetooth 5.3	Bluetooth 5.3
Active Noise Cancelation, Transparency mode	Yes	Yes	Yes
Conversation Awareness, Adaptive Audio	Yes	Yes	Yes
Voice Isolation, Personalized volume	Yes	Yes	Yes
Battery life	Up to 6 hours +30 hours with case	Up to 8 hours +24 hours with case	Up to 5 hours +30 hours with case
Wire in box	Yes	No	No
Launch Price	$249	$249	$179