When I was an undergrad at Carnegie Mellon, I knew all the ways my student ID got me a student discount or freebie. Whether it was a 10 percent discount at a store or free bus rides, my student ID was great!
A few years later, when I started an MBA, I got another student ID and had to re-learn all the places I could use it!
Fortunately, my work is your gain – here are some of the best freebies available for college students. Make the cash you earn at your college job go a little bit further!
Table of Contents
First: Always Ask for a Discount!
Not every merchant lists their student discounts online and there might be tons of local places near you that offer student discounts that I’ll never know about – so as accurate as I can try to be on my list, nothing beats asking.
Everyone knows college isn’t free and college students are usually cash poor.
Anywhere you go, remember to ask if there is a discount for students. If the answer is yes – whip out your student ID. Win! If the answer is no – no harm in asking!
Free Student Checking Bank Accounts
Many banks offer free checking for students, including:
- Chase College Checking℠ (with a $100 bonus!)
- US Bank Student Checking
- Bank of America Student Banking
If you are OK with online banking, you can often get a better deal with an online bank – higher interest rates, lower fees, low or no minimums. No student requirements here.
- Discover® Bank – No minimum balance, no monthly fee (see our review of Discover’s online bank)
- Ally Bank – No minimum balance, no fees, ATM fee reimbursement up to $10 per statement cycle. (read our Ally Bank review)
Here is a full list of the best student bank accounts.
You Need a Budget
Budgeting is much simpler when you’re a student. Very little income, few expenses, and all the numbers are much smaller.
It’s also the best time to start budgeting because it is so simple! And because You Need a Budget is free for college students!
👉 Learn more about YNAB Student
Amazon Student
With Amazon Student you get a variety of discounts on a lot of Amazon services, including Kindle Unlimited, Amazon Music Unlimited, GrubHub, and Prime Video . Plus free two-day shipping.
Art and Museum Admission
Check your local museums and fine arts programs. They usually offer discounts or free admission to area universities with a valid student ID.
- Art Institute of Chicago – discounted student tickets
- Carnegie Hall – $10 per ticket.
- Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh – discounted student tickets
- Lincoln Center – several programs have free or discounted tickets for students
- Met Opera – $35 per ticket for students
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston – Free admission
Big Student Discounts
And here’s my best shot at collecting all the student discounts available at nationally represented stores or service providers.
First, some of these require that you join Student Advantage. It’s a discount card for students with an annual fee ($30 as of this writing) but gives you access to a litany of discounts.
Others may have a relationship with UNiDAYS, similar to Student Advantage except it’s free. You need to confirm that you are a student (either logging into your university account or via your university email) but otherwise, you get access to discounts and cashback rewards.
Lastly, you may have read elsewhere about getting free drinks, discounts, or other perks at various quick-service restaurants. These are highly region-specific, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
Onto the list:
Clothing
- Adidas – Up to 15% off
- Aeropostale – 15 off via UNiDAYS
- Aerie – 20% off via UNiDAYS
- ASOS – 10% off
- boohoo – up to 30% off
- Champion – up to 10% off online as an actively enrolled college student
- Club Monaco – 15% off online and in-store
- Converse – 20% off
- Crocs – 25% off via StudentBeans
- Dockers – 25% off
- Dr. Martens – 15% off online
- Hanes – Up to 10% off online
- J. Crew – a 15% discount for teachers and college students
- Journeys – $10 off of a $75+ online order via UNiDAYS
- Goodwill – Check your local store for the promotion day (ours have 30% off on Wednesdays for students, teachers, and seniors)
- Kate Spade – Up to 75% off via UNiDAYS
- Levi’s – Up to 15% off full-price items
- Madewell – 15% off for teachers & college students
- ModCloth – 20% off online
- New Balance – 15% off via UNiDAYS
- Nike – Up to 10% off on most items
- The North Face – 20% off
- PacSun – 10% off online via UNiDAYS
- Sunglass Hut – 15% off
- The North Face – 20% off online or in-store
- Toms – 15% off
- Vera Bradley – student discounts avialable
- Vineyard Vines – 15% off
Entertainment
From going to the movies to listening to music, you can get a discount.
- AMC – student discounts available
- Apple Music – free with Apple TV+
- Cinemark – student discounts available
- Pandora Premium – 60 days free and then $5.99 per month
- Peacock – Peacock Premium for 1.99 a month for 12 months
- SiriusXM – 3 months for $1
- SoundCloud – 50% off SoundCloud Go+
- Spotify – 50% discount (Spotify Premium now includes Hulu and Showtime)
- Universal Studios Hollywood – discounts for student tickets
- YouTube Premium – one month free, then $7.99 per month
Furniture
- Pottery Barn – 10% off when you use your .edu address or show a valid student ID
Cell Phone Plans
- AT&T Wireless – Up to $10 off per month per line
- US Mobile – 20% off Unlimited Premium plans
- Verizon Wireless – Save $10/month single line plans and $20/month off two lines
Most cell phone carriers offer business, educator, and military discounts. Your university or insurance provider might offer a special discount. Prepaid cell phone plans might offer a lower price even without a college student discount.
Electronics
Unlike clothing retailers with 10% or 20% off, electronics usually offer special educational models or pricing:
- Acer – 10% off sitewide and free shipping
- Apple – get gift cards with certain products and 20% off Apple Care
- Best Buy Student Deals
- Dell – 10% off
- HP – Up to 40% discounts online
- Lenovo Student Discount Progam
- Logitech – 25% off products
- Newegg – 10% off
- Microsoft – 10%+ discounts
- Samsung – Up to 30% off smartphones, laptops, tablets, and other purchases
- Adorama – 15% off select items, registration, and proof required
- GoPro – 5% off new cameras and accessories
- Skullcandy – 30% off online
Food
When dining locally, always ask if there is a student discount, even at chain restaurants. If it’s a franchise, the owner can decide on these discounts.
- Blue Apron – 50% off for the first four weeks
- DoorDash – DashPass for $4.99 per month, or $48 per year
- EveryPlate – 75% off your first box via UNiDAYS
- HelloFresh – 55% off your first box via UNiDAYS
- Home Chef – 50% off your first four boxes via StudentBeans
Health and Cosmetics
- AAptiv – 50% off monthly and annual plans. This is a fitness app that can help you lose weight or improve your health with audio guided programs via UNiDAYS
- BH Cosmetics – 10% off online via UNiDAYS
- bioClarity – 15% off skincare products when using the discount code STUDENT15
- Bobbi Brown – 20% off online via UNiDAYS
- MAC Cosmetics – 10% off online via UNiDAYS
- Sally Beauty – Get a free Beauty Student Savings card for exclusive monthly discounts. Cosmetology students can upgrade to a Pro card for extra savings.
- Sigma – Discounts available, details vary
Insurance
Being a good student proves that you’re responsible. Responsible people pay less for insurance.
- Allstate – student discounts on car insurance
- American Family – student discount on car insurance for those on the Dean’s list.
- Geico – 15% discount for being a good student
- Nationwide – car insurance discounts available for students with at least a B average.
- Progressive – 10% discount for students with at least a B average
- State Farm – 25% discount for good grades
Knowledge
- Academic Superstore – Discounts on popular software
- Babbel – 65% off 3 months
- Book Outlet – up to 90% off via Student Beans
- Skillshare – 30% off first year
- New York Times – Your school may have a complimentary subscription
- The Wall Street Journal – $2 per month, $24 / year
- The Economist – look for the student option
Software
Companies love to give free software to students because it introduces you to their software at a time when you’re least able to pay and most likely to form your usage habits.
Start by going to your school’s IT department to see what software they have available (for example, here’s the free software page of the University of Pittsburgh students). Many universities have a large number of seat licenses that enable you to use the software like you would borrow a book from the library. It’ll cost you nothing and you can get access to a lot of great (and expensive) software packages.
Here are a few companies that give out free software specifically to students:
- Adobe Education – Discounted plans
- Autodesk – Free annual subscription
- Atlassian – 75% off via Student Beans
- Axure – Free subscription
- Codecadamy – 35% Codecademy Pro
- GitHub – Free Student Developer Pack (learn how to code)
- Microsoft Office for Students – Microsoft 365 for $2.99 per month
- MSC Software – Very specific engineering software
- On the Hub – Up to 95% off
- Tableau – Analytics package
Travel
- Amtrak – 15% discount on train travel for students ages 13-25
- CheapTickets – Discounts on travel
- Greyhound – 10% off Greyhound fares and 15% off shipping via Student Advantage
- Hotels.com – Up to 40% off via UNiDAYS
- IKON Pass – Discount on Rocky Mountain SuperPass for Colorado ski resorts (nurses and military qualify too)
- Megabus – $3 off your next trip via UNiDAYS
- Sixt – 10% off for students at least 21 years old
- StudentUniverse – Discounts on flights, hotels and tours
- United – 5% discount on United Economy flights
Miscellaneous
- Ableton – 50% off music creation software
- Costco – $40 Costco gift card with a new Executive membership and $20 gift card a new Gold Star membership
- Evernote – 40% Evernote Professional for students note-taking app
- DuoLingo – 2 months free via UNiDAYS
- GM – Discounts on GM vehicles to current students or anyone who has graduated in the past two years.
- Headspace – 85% off this meditation app
- Peleton – 6.99 per month for students
- Purple – 10% off mattresses
- Sam’s Club – 60% off a Club membership or $50 off a Club Plus membership.
- Stanley – student discounts available
- TickTick – 25% off task management app
- Budget Truck Rental – Up to 20% off moving truck rentals. Use discount code TRUKU.
- Penske – 10% off rental trucks and a few other perks (unlimited miles and no underage surcharge are huge)
- SMARTBOX – Moving and storage discounts
- Zipcar – Discounts for car rentals at participating universities. There can be big savings if you’re renting under age 25 – some rental agencies won’t rent, period.
And if it’s your birthday, check out this list of restaurants that give you free food!
If you know of a discount not on this list (or one that is on the list but no longer offered), email me and I’ll update this.
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About Jim Wang
Jim Wang is a forty-something father of four who is a frequent contributor to Forbes and Vanguard’s Blog. He has also been fortunate to have appeared in the New York Times, Baltimore Sun, Entrepreneur, and Marketplace Money.
Jim has a B.S. in Computer Science and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University, an M.S. in Information Technology – Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a Masters in Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University. His approach to personal finance is that of an engineer, breaking down complex subjects into bite-sized easily understood concepts that you can use in your daily life.
One of his favorite tools (here’s my treasure chest of tools, everything I use) is Empower Personal Dashboard, which enables him to manage his finances in just 15-minutes each month. They also offer financial planning, such as a Retirement Planning Tool that can tell you if you’re on track to retire when you want. It’s free.
Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank or financial institution. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
