Am I alone in thinking the current student discount scheme on TfL is a mess,
both in the application and the discount available?

Currently to apply a student has to first enrol for the year, then get hold
of a discount form, fill it out & add a photo, get it stamped and signed by
an authority in the university, then send it off to Hull and wait two weeks
for either the card to arrive or a rejection letter.

It's quite easy to get the form wrong and not realise this until the
rejection comes, whilst the annual expirary at the end of September causes a
mass rush of renewals at the start of the term, as everyone tries to get
their new card before the old one expires. Also this has led to problems for
enrolment - any attempt to get some groups of students to enrol in the later
stages of the fortnight is undermined because a lot of people want to get
their discount sorted sooner.

Furthermore the discount is 30% off weekly or longer travelcards when many
students would benefit much more from a discount on daily tickets - indeed
many think they're buying the equivalent of a Young Persons' Railcard and
it's only afterwards they realise it's not, often when they find they've
been charged more than they can spare. (Also not being able to use a YPR
when buying travelcards from most outlets is a pain.)

Has anyone else noted similar problems?