My first MacBook was a mid-2011 MacBook Pro. I still use it every day. I have fallen hard for the promise of the Touch Bar and actually look forward to upgrading eventually.
I don't think the first will happen, since there are still millions of Macs in the wild (and many models still in production) which will not have the touchbar. Thus, the easiest path will be to simply duplicate on-screen functionality (or expose functionality already hidden behind menus).
They've offered that for literally decades. Competitors (e.g. Dell) also offer discounts. I don't think that's a huge factor, especially in November, which is off-cycle for EDU purchases.