Savings.com Ultimate Guide to College Student Discounts

College is expensive for many students, even if they go to a community college, live with parents, or attend on a full scholarship. This savings guide covers common (and not-so-common) ways for college students and their families to score big financially. First, we’ll explore hundreds of sweet, sweet student discounts.

Table of Contents

• Nab Hundreds of College Student Discounts
  • Clothing, Apparel, and Shoes
  • Fitness, Gym, Athletic and Swimwear
  • Jewelry and Watches
  • Bags, Backpacks, and Accessories
  • Eyeglasses, Sunglasses, and Contact Lenses
  • Cosmetics, Skincare, Health, and Grooming
  • General Retail (Stores Where You Can Buy Basically Anything)
  • Computers, Software, Smartphones, and Other Technology
  • Smartphone Service
  • Education and Study
  • News and Magazines
  • Books
  • Food, Groceries, and Restaurants
  • Car Insurance, Financial, and Work-Related
  • Nutritional Supplements, Diet Products, and Energy Drinks
  • Hair and Hair Removal
  • Menstrual Products and Period Care
  • Miscellaneous
  • Streaming, Movies, and Entertainment
  • Exercise
  • Games
  • Decor, Furnishings, Bedding, Home
  • Travel
  • Local Spots/Tourist Attractions
  • Pro Sports Across the U.S.
• What College Students and Their Families Spend Money On
• Earn Money as a College Student
• Save Big and Make Your Money Work for You
• References and Endnotes

Nab Hundreds of College Student Discounts

Every year, the National Retail Federation releases a survey detailing college spending per college household. Electronics, furnishings, and clothes/accessories are three top areas. Laptops are the tech item most in demand.

Fortunately, plenty of retailers offer discounts for college shoppers, so check out the sweet deals this guide lists for fashion, activewear, bags, moisturizers, laptops, gaming gear, newspapers, and much more. (Afterward, we’ll explore the survey results a bit more.)

Student discount groups, including the following, offer even more options and updated information:

1. Student Beans
2. UniDays
3. ID.me
4. VerifyPass
5. ISIC (International Student Identity Card) (cost varies depending on country of issue, generally $4 to $25 USD a year)
6. Student Advantage Card ($30 a year)

Savings.com: We also have a category specifically for student discounts, and our information is current.

• Savings.com student discount coupons

In the table below, we include Savings.com links where applicable since retailers sometimes offer steeper savings than student discounts. We list tons of student discounts below, but this guide would never be finished if we tried to incorporate every discount possible. So, if you don’t see a discount you’d like, check one of the links above or head to the retailer’s website.

Clothing, Apparel, and Shoes

Go back to the list

Fitness, Gym, Athletic, and Swimwear Apparel

Go back to the list

Jewelry and Watches

Go back to the list

Bags, Backpacks, and Accessories

Go back to the list

Eyeglasses, Sunglasses, and Contact Lenses

Go back to the list

Cosmetics, Skincare, Health, and Grooming

Go back to the list

General Retail (Stores Where You Can Buy Basically Anything)

Go back to the list

Computers, Software, Smartphones, and Other Technology

Go back to the list

Smartphone Service

Go back to the list

Education and Study

Go back to the list

News and Magazines

Go back to the list

Books

Go back to the list

Food, Groceries, and Restaurants

Go back to the list

Car Insurance, Financial, and Work-Related

Go back to the list

Nutritional Supplements, Diet Products, and Energy Drinks

Go back to the list

Hair and Hair Removal

Go back to the list

Menstrual Products and Period Care

Go back to the list

Miscellaneous

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Streaming, Movies, and Entertainment

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Exercise

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Games

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Decor, Furnishings, Bedding, Home

Go back to the list

Travel

Go back to the list

Local Spots/Tourist Attractions

Here’s a look at student discounts in New York City and San Diego. Use our examples to get an idea of what could be available in your neck of the woods. For instance, many museums, regardless where they are, offer free or discounted admission to students.

Of course, our lists do not cover all the possible discounts available in these cities. Check with your school for more options. CUNY students get free or flexible admission to a huge range of sites, including American Folk Art Museum, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Sculpture Center, and Yeshiva University Museum, along with 9/11 Memorial Museum, Japan Society, and The Women’s Project and Productions. They also get discounted Zipcar rentals, among other deals.

New York City

Go back to the list

San Diego

UCSD-specific discounts

Go back to the list

Pro Sports across the U.S.

Go back to the list Whew! Talk about a lot of discounts. As a college student, you’ll find deals practically everywhere you look. Of course, they’re probably not enough by themselves to keep you in tiptop shape financially. Let’s take a look at how much college households spend and on what.

What College Students and Their Families Spend Money On

• Expected spending in 2021: $71 billion, or $1,200 per college household1, 2
• $141: Spending increase per household from 2020 to 2021
• $80: Amount of the increase that is due to more spending on electronics and furnishings
• Spending in 2020: $67.7 billion, or $1,059 per household
• Spending in 2017: $54.1 billion, or $970 per household
• Spending in 2007: $31.7 billion, or $641.56 per household

Top 3 areas of spending: Electronics, furnishings, clothes/accessories

• Electronics spending, $306 per household in 2021 ($262 in 2020)
• Dorm or apartment furnishings spending, $164 per household in 2021 ($130 in 2020)
• Clothing and accessories spending, $159 per household in 2021 ($148 in 2020)

Laptops are the tech item most in demand

• 57% of college families will spend money on a laptop
• 27.3% on tablets
• 25.1% on accessories
• 24.4% on calculators
• 19.7% on printers

Online is the top shopping destination for back-to-college deals

Consumers in 2021 feel much more comfortable shopping in person than they did in 2020

• 43% are shopping online (43% in 2020)
• 33% at department stores (26% in 2020)
• 30% at discount stores (30% in 2020)
• 29% at office supply stores (26% in 2020)
• 28% at college bookstores (25% in 2020)

Earn Money as a College Student

Discounts are great, but earning money can help college students pay the bills. Money-making ideas include federal work-study jobs, tutoring, and dog walking.

Federal work-study

• Must show financial need
• Will earn at least the federal minimum wage
• Can be part-time or full-time student
• Employment is part time and can be on or off campus
• Consult your school’s financial aid office to see if the school participates
• Typically not available during summer breaks
• Funds are limited, so apply early

Gig jobs

• Generally best for students who need a lot of flexibility in their schedules and don’t mind possibly unpredictable income
• Examples include Instacart shopper, Uber driver, dog walker, pet sitter, tutor, babysitter, lawn care worker, photographer, graphic designer, housecleaner, and handyman/maintenance person
• Platforms such as Fiverr, Uber, DogVacay, Zazzle Live, and Amazon Flex can help students land gigs
• Work your own hours, and set your own schedule
• Can be during the school year and during breaks

Jobs on campus

• Common jobs include tutor, resident assistant, cashier, campus tour guide, library attendant, research assistant, and administrative assistant
• Good for students who prefer consistent schedules and predictable income
• Can be during the school year and during breaks (more positions available while school is in session, of course)

Jobs off campus

• Offer more options, especially in retail and dining, in addition to what is on campus
• Good for students who prefer consistent schedules and predictable income
• Could be somewhat tricker to fit in with a student schedule vs. on-campus jobs
• Can be during the school year and during breaks

A resume is necessary to land many jobs. It’s worth investing the time to develop a compelling snapshot of your work, volunteer, and internship history, educational accomplishments, degree information, and more.

Don’t fret if you think you have nothing to fill a resume with. Your college career center can help you get the ball rolling (and more!). Career centers also have listings for opportunities, both on and off campus.

Save Big and Make Your Money Work for You

• Student discounts and earning money aren’t the only ways to be proactive about finances. For instance, take these ways to save:
• Skip having a car if you can help it. Vehicle expenses add up ridiculously fast. There’s car insurance, gas, maintenance, and more. Look into biking, walking, and public transportation instead. (If you must have a car, do explore good-student discounts and other common car insurance discounts such as renter’s/car bundles.)
• Focus on using cash, not credit cards. Cash helps keep your spending in check. If you use a card, pay off balances every month.
• Ask professors (or just ask around yourself) if older editions of required textbooks will suffice. Much of the time, they do and are a lot cheaper. Other options include borrowing books instead of buying them, or using digital instead of print versions.
• Start at a community college and transfer to a bigger school. Community colleges are cheaper, and you still get the degree you want in the end.
• Check out the campus gym. You can use it for free and probably can take a nice variety of fitness-related classes for credit.
• Stick to your campus meal plan if you’re enrolled in one. Eating out while also paying for a meal plan drains your finances unnecessarily. Granted, campus meals aren’t always the most exciting, so splurging once in a while might not be the worst idea. Otherwise, try getting creative with your meal plan options and see what you come up with.
• Learn to cook, even if it’s just simple meals, if you live off campus. Cooking is a valuable life skill and is much cheaper than constantly eating out.
• Graduate in four years if possible, not five or six. This point deserves a bit more explanation, so let’s get into it.

If you’re enrolled full time: 15 credit hours is the sweet spot

As a CNBC headline puts it, “this freshman 15 could save you $300,000."3 Say you take 12 or 13 credit hours per semester. You are more likely to graduate in five or six years as opposed to four years. The extended timeline can add many tens of thousands of dollars to your student loan debt and delays your entry into higher-paying work.

Now, if you average 18 credit hours or more, especially your first semester, you risk spreading yourself too thin. Wait to see how your first semester goes before making any decisions on taking more than 15 credits per semester. Do the math as you progress in school to make sure your graduation date remains on track.

If you must take developmental classes that don’t count toward the degree

Developmental prerequisites can be huge roadblocks to a degree. They’re momentum killers. They cost money and time and cause many students to lose heart. They’re also very common. For instance:

• 52 of every 100 students starting two-year college do so in math remediation.4
• 24 of every 100 students in four-year college must take math prerequisites.
• 34 of every 100 students starting two-year college must take English prerequisites.
• 12 of every 100 students in four-year college take English remediation classes.
• 50% of these students could pass a college-level class but remediation without support throws them off track.

“Students get ‘stuck’ in sequences of non-credit bearing courses and too often stop out before making it to essential gateway courses."

The good news: You still have options if you’re taking developmental prerequisites (or think you will need to).

• Apply to schools offering corequisite support models. In West Virginia, Colorado, Tennessee, and other states that focus on corequisite models in their public colleges, students complete transfer requirements in half the time and at almost three times the national average. The model has proven successful for several California community colleges, too.6 The University System of Georgia and the City University of New York are other programs offering the corequisite support model.
• Get tutoring or extra help instead of trying to go it alone.
• Take these prerequisites at cheaper community colleges.
• Explore other (more flexible) schools if your current school doesn’t seem inclined to help.

College Kid Savings

When you’re in college, it’s good to save any way you can. Student discounts are plentiful, even fun. They get you to discover retailers you might not have tried otherwise. Many college students use these bargains as part of a multi-pronged financial plan that includes earning money and making savvy moves such as not having a car on campus and being extra purposeful about staying on track for a four-year degree.

References and Endnotes

1. Inman, Danielle. (2021, July 19). 2021 Brings Back-to-Class Shopping to Record Levels. National Retail Federation. Retrieved Aug. 16, 2021, from https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/2021-brings-back-class-shopping-record-levels
2. Cullen, Katherine. (2021). Back-to-Class 2021. Powerpoint. National Retail Federation. Retrieved Aug. 16, 2021, from https://9d4f6e00179f3c3b57f1-4eec5353d4ae74185076baef01cb1fa1.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/Cullen%20Slides%20BTS%20webinar%207.28.pdf
3. Grant, Kelli B. (2017, Aug. 30). This ‘Freshman 15’ could save you $300,000. CNBC. Retrieved Aug. 16, 2021, from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/30/taking-fewer-than-15-college-credits-could-delay-graduation.html
4. Corequisite Support. (2021). Complete College America. Retrieved Aug. 16, 2021, from https://completecollege.org/strategy/corequisite-support/
5. No Room for Doubt. (2021, Apri; 23). PDF. Complete College America. Retrieved Aug. 16, 2021, from https://completecollege.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CCA_NoRoomForDoubt_CorequisiteSupport.pdf
6. 6. Corequisites. (n.d.). Acceleration Project. Retrieved Aug. 16, 2021, from https://accelerationproject.org/Corequisites