4 Discounts Every College Student Should Be Using
BY ALEX HASLAM
College is a great time for learning and personal growth. But college can also be expensive, so it’s important to look for ways to save money wherever possible while you’re in school. From clothing to entertainment and other perks, there are student discounts almost everywhere if you know where to look. Here are a few discounts to get you started:
- Tech
Technology is an integral part of learning in college, and major tech companies are aware of that. Big-box retailers like Best Buy often offer hefty discounts to college students. Apple, Dell, and other manufacturers also offer student discounts, helping make essential hardware like laptops, tablets, and accessories a bit more affordable. If you need pro software, Adobe, Microsoft, and other software companies do the same. As one of the best student discounts, Adobe offers as much as 60% off its Creative Cloud platform.
If you don’t need any special gear for school but just want a new phone, you can find some good deals for students in that arena as well. However, there’s a catch: many of these promotions run only during the back-to-school season, from around July through September, so keep that in mind and plan your purchases accordingly.
- Clothing
If you’re all stocked up on tech but want to liven up your wardrobe, a number of big brands and retailers offer student discounts. A lot of first-time college students find that the clothes they wore in high school are not up to par with professional dress standards in college, so buying some nicer clothes to stay looking put-together can help you stay at the top of the pack in school. To help achieve this goal, Banana Republic offers a 15% discount to both students and teachers, Forever 21 offers 10% off online orders, and J.Crew offers 15% off in store as well.
That’s just a small sample, though. You should always ask at checkout if a clothing store offers student discounts.
- Streaming Music and TV
If you need some music while you study (or relax between sessions), you can find student discounts on several popular streaming music services. Both Spotify and Apple Music offer student prices of $4.99 per month. That price gets you all the music you could want—you’d be hard-pressed to find a song, artist, or album that isn’t on one of these services.
Another perk: the Spotify student deal also includes Hulu at no additional charge. Sadly, popular streaming service Netflix doesn’t offer any discounts for students, but if rival Hulu doesn’t work for you, or if you prefer watching shows as they air, it’s worth looking into your cable provider to get a discount (or at least a cheaper package).
- Movie Theaters
Catching a movie can help you unwind from a tough week of classes and workdays. Many movie theaters offer student discounts, although the exact amount of the discount—and whether an individual theater offers it at all—varies by location.
Regal Cinemas provides instructions to find out if a local theater offers student discounts, while Cinemark allows you to input your zip code to see nearby theaters with discounts. And although AMC doesn’t have an online tool for checking local theaters, many AMC theaters do give student discounts, so it’s worth asking the next time you go.
Whether it’s your first year of college or your last, you have many student discounts at your disposal. Don’t wait to use them—you’ll miss them when they’re gone!
Alex Haslam graduated from the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah in 2017. Today she is a freelance writer who focuses on consumer technology, entertainment, and higher education.
