Discounts for students

[Sumac77]

I've been out of the student game for a while, so when I heard that companies like Amazon give discounts on things like shipping for current students I got excited:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200500380

What other discounts or websites are there to help out new and returning grad students?

[pears]

i don't know if it applies for grad students, but i remember target having really great sales at the end of august and start of september when i was an undergrad. they teamed up with the university to provide shuttles for freshies (who aren't allowed to have cars on campus) to make trips to and from the store if they needed to get lots of heavy or bulky items, and they had free samples and swag and coupons of all sorts, plus sales on basics (chairs, lamps, crates, etc.). might be worth seeing if there's a target near your school that does the same for grad students.

[Sadie_Bea]

I am pumped about Adobe's education discounts on software.  http://www.adobe.com/education/students.edu.html?showEduReq=no   I've had my eye on Adobe Acrobat XI for a while now... 

 

Also, I heard Sam's Club has a student discount membership.  I will definitely be researching that.

[queenleblanc]

There is a Microsoft office discount if you buy with a .edu email adds, too. You can get the office professional package for only $85 or something like that. Some university bookstores offer mic. office for less though, if your university participates on the discount program.

[TakeruK]

Dropbox! You get a lot more free space if you're a student (need to provide a .edu email address, but you can add this later, after creating your account or add to an existing account).

 

I love Amazon Prime / Student so much! Back in Canada, Amazon.ca had very expensive and slow shipping so my textbooks didn't arrive until a month into the term (grad classes don't usually get things like textbook lists organized until the first week!). Now, I can get my books in two days and free shipping !

 

Maybe this is obvious, but many banks offer great student banking packages. You usually can get something like unlimited transactions per month without having to pay a monthly fee nor keep a minimum balance. 

 

Also maybe obvious -- I've found that the student health insurance plans are often much cheaper than other plans and have better coverage, but this depends on school. If you have coverage through e.g. your parent or a spouse, it still might be worth it to double up and get both insurance plans (your primary plan will apply first and then you can usually apply your second plan to the remaining co-pay). Depending on your situation, the cost of your school's insurance might be less than what you would have had to pay in co-pays!

 

Grad students usually count as employees in the eyes of most companies (or they don't know any better), especially if you have a RA or TA pay stub. So, ask about student and/or corporate discounts with your phone provider, internet service provider, insurance company, etc.

 

Once you actually become a student (i.e. have your school ID and all that) you can usually check out your school's IT department to see if you can get free software. Be careful to make sure that the license allows you to use them on your personal computer etc. My school ID gets me free Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), and the full version of Adobe Acrobat! In addition, free anti-virus software (and for personal use too!).

 

You should also check out any employee benefits like discounted admission to nearby attractions. For example, buying tickets to some nearby theme parks is much cheaper through my school's bookstore page. This is great when you have guests coming and you want to do some touristy things with them.

 

Also, check out your school's travel office. In some cases, you can use your school's corporate discount code when booking trains, renting cars, etc. Just make sure the corporate discount code is valid for non-school business as well as personal use. In my experience, some codes only work when you are traveling for work reasons while other codes work just because of your affiliation. However, it's often the case that seasonal/promotional rates might actually be better than the corporate rate, so be sure to check both.

 

Finally, don't be afraid of asking about student discounts at businesses, especially those around the school. Sometimes restaurants, cafes, etc. will give you a 10% discount!

[katerific]

Dropbox, Amazon Prime, etc. But just wanted to reiterate--ask other students (both grads and undergrads!) if they have extra student discount cards. I don't know where they come from (I guess local landlords/property management places?), but some people have them, and they're magical. 15% every Subway purchase? 10% off the local froyo place? awesome.

[TakeruK]

In Canada, there is the "Student Price Card" (costs $10/year) that gives nationwide discounts on things like katerific said. It's mostly student-oriented businesses too (e.g. subway, pizza places) so it's great! This card is available to students of all ages, from high school to graduate school! The Canadian Federation of Students also has a similar free card but it isn't as useful. Is there a similar student organization in the US (i.e. an advocacy organization for all college/graduate students in the US)? If so, maybe they also offer a card like this!

[Bren]

If you are willing to spend a little money, there is also a student discount card called Student Advantage. You purchase the card for a certain number of years (a 3year card is $40) and you can receive discounts on almost everything, like trips, clothes etc.  I tried it for a year in college and it was pretty nice.  Especially on greyhound trips.

[Nerd_For_Life]

There is a Microsoft office discount if you buy with a .edu email adds, too. You can get the office professional package for only $85 or something like that. Some university bookstores offer mic. office for less though, if your university participates on the discount program.

I just bought a new laptop from the Microsoft store here in Toronto and they have a 10% student discount! I saved about $100 dollars on my new laptop XD

[danieleWrites]

I put Office 365 University edition on my tablet (it's Windows 8 Pro, might as well be a laptop) for 80 bucks. I hate the subscription thing, but this is a 4 year subscription, and 3 years is my average time for swapping to a new computer or device. Just need to verify that you're a student or faculty with a working .edu address.

[danieleWrites]

 

Attention everyone! A free giveawa

 

 

You are seriously trying to sell academic dishonesty? I'm not surprised, really. Spammers are from the same cesspit of unethical waste as the Nigerian Prince who has millions of dollars for me, if I send him money to process it.

Edited September 12, 2013 by danieleWrites

[1Q84]

Dropbox! You get a lot more free space if you're a student (need to provide a .edu email address, but you can add this later, after creating your account or add to an existing account).

 

 

I just updated mine to my .edu and I didn't get any extra space. Was it a limited time promotion?

[TakeruK]

I just updated mine to my .edu and I didn't get any extra space. Was it a limited time promotion?

 

There's two bonus space things for students on Dropbox, but my info here might be out of date. When I first opened my dropbox account (years ago), student email addresses (.edu or Canadian university email address) would get an extra 500 MB and double the bonus for each referral. Maybe now that Dropbox is more established, everyone starts with the extra space? Or maybe you already had a Canadian university email address so you already had this benefit.

 

The other bonus space thing is the "Great Space Race" (https://www.dropbox.com/spacerace) It looks like that promotion is now over -- but basically it was a race where Dropbox counted the number of accounts from a certain school if you get enough people in your school to have accounts, then the entire school gets a (temporary) bonus in space. Because of this, I have about 12GB of space now, but I guess now that it's over, that space might go away sometime in the future!

[lafresca]

Verizon wireless, and other cell phone carriers, offer discounts to students. The discount for students at UCSB is 15%. Here's the website with the details for verizon...

 

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/employee/emaildomainauthentication.jsp

[danieleWrites]

Slightly silly, but don't forget to ask for student discounts at local stores and restaurants. Some do, some don't, but you don't always know if you don't ask!

[comp12]

Also - discounts can come in handy for nights out on the town...especially for venues and places one might not have gone otherwise. Nearly every single arts organization--museums, symphonies, ballets, opera, theater, etc--have student rush rates that are many fractions of face value admission. These organizations are always hungry for younger audience members to establish repeat patronage.