30 Resources for Saving Money In College

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While average tuition costs have risen over 1,000% over the last 50 years, that doesn’t mean that you have to spend excessively on other parts of your life while in school. Student discounts are common on everything from the periodicals you subscribe to, to insurance plans, to local restaurants. Check out 30 crucial resources for saving money in college below.

Services

• Amazon Prime offers you free two-day shipping on millions of items–many of which can be used in college–from textbooks to decorations for your dorm. Amazon Student offers you this service for free for six months. Services include free music and movie streaming, cloud storage, and free two-day shipping.
• For shipments with Fedex, show your student ID for instant savings of 20-30%. Take advantage of the offer at any Fedex station.

Transportation

• Amtrak offers transportation services to thousands of locations across the US. With the purchase of a $20 Student Advantage Discount Card, you can save 10% on all Amtrak tickets. The card also provides discounts with other common purchases.
• Save 20% on all walk-up or online ticket purchases for Greyhound as a student with the same Student Advantage Discount Card that helps with savings for Amtrak tickets.
• Rail Europe offers discounts for all students aged 12-25. Check out discount passes for almost every country and region of Europe.
• The public transportation systems of most metro areas offer discounts to students in the form of special student monthly or yearly passes. For some of the largest metro areas check out discounts at L.A.’s Metro Rail, Chicago Transit Authority, and New Jersey Transit Authority.
• American Airlines offers a Student Discount as seen by their portal on StudentUniverse.com.
• The GM College Discount offers car savings of up to thousands of dollars to current college students on a rotating roster of models.
• Ford Drives U offers $500 cash for current student or graduates buying new Ford cars.
• The Nissan College Grad program offers savings to recent college grads on a wide range of model types.

Insurance

• Allstate offers discounts of up to 20% and 35% for being a good student or having a family member who is an in-state university student, respectively. Check out their Lifestyle Discounts section for details.
• High school and college students who maintain a ‘B’ or better average can receive a 15% discount through Geico’s Good Student discount.
• State Farm offers a discount for good students until the age 25. Savings continue even if you’ve already graduated college. Check out their Good Student discount here.
• Farmers offers more ways to qualify for savings as a student than most insurance companies, including a 20% discount for maintaining a 3.0 GPA, getting on the honor roll, getting on the dean’s list, or staying in the top 20% of your class. Check out the discount here.
• Traveler’s offers a reduced quote for students between the ages of 16 and 25 who maintain a ‘B’ average of better in school.
• Nationwide offers a Good Student discount for students between the ages of 16-25.

Products

• If you want a new Mac or iPad for your studies, you should check out Apple’s student discounts, which offer discounts to college students, those accepted to college, or those buying Apple products for college students.
• If you’re looking for a PC and are interested in Lenovo products, check out their student discount page. Offers are made on a school-by-school basis, and are available to both students and faculty.
• If you’re looking for software like Microsoft Office or a Surface Pro, check out Microsoft’s store for education. Offers are available on a variety of products for both students or educators in higher education or K-12 levels.
• While you can also sign up for year-based subscriptions to portions of the Adobe suite, Adobe offers discounts of up to 70% for Creative Cloud for students.
• There are a wide variety of ways to save on college textbooks, often amounting to several hundred dollars in savings every semester. Check out Time Magazine’s overview of how to save up to 70% on textbooks for a few ideas.

Apps

• Make sure you get paid back for times when you’ve covered your friends. Equitably split rent, food, or entertainment expenses with Venmo, an app that lets you send or receive money with your phone.
• It’s never too early to get into planning your finances, particularly on the limited budget of most college students. Check out Mint for a useful budgeting app that shows you what you’re spending money on, an estimated credit score, and when your bills are due. Mint is available on iOS or Android.
• If you’re looking for simplicity in financial planning, check out Left to Spend an app that lets you know how much you have left to spend to stay on your budget for a given ‘allowance period.’ Currently only available on iOS.
• Debt Payoff Planner allows you to see the most effective way to pay off student loans, what you should be paying, how much, and when. Currently only available on Android.

Publications

• The New York Times offers discounted student rate which vary by zip code. A discounted print delivery rate is also available, which provides free unlimited access to NYTimes.com as well as NY Times apps.
• The Wall Street Journal Student Program offers discounted access to the Wall Street Journal starting at just $1 per week through the summer.
• The Economist offers a subscription rate for students for just $1.25 a week that provides both digital and print versions of the publication.
• Foreign Policy Magazine offers a student rate of $2.99/month for their All Access membership which includes all print and online offerings.
• Textbooks can be pricey too. Fortunately, several sites like Consumer Affairs – textbook rental offer deeply discounted and student-rate pricing for renting and purchasing textbooks.