Using Your Student Card To Get Student Discounts

I’ve mentioned here on My University Money before, the classic PF dilemma that I have in terms of saving money, but being pretty lazy as well.  But I was impressed by how easy it is to get student discounts. You see, I hate coupons.  I hate clipping them, I detest trying to keep them organized, I don’t want to have to think about deadlines, and I really really can’t stand when someone holds up a line for 20 minutes arguing about whether something is “stackable” or not because they saw some show the night before were a dude got 563 bottles of toothpaste for $7.  That being said, I really love saving money on things that I have to buy every day.  I have curtailed my consumer laziness enough to develop some frugal skills such as shopping online and looking for discounts between similar products in a grocery store.  One other lazy-man’s solution to frugality is to keep an eye open for student discounts, and always keep your student card on you.  Think about it, how much energy or organization does it take to simply ask if the service or product comes with a student discount?  I used mine all through university, and now that I’m taking a master’s degree I get to keep saving money with this method.  That being said, I should admit that since my old university never asked for their student card back, I was definitely taking advantage of that even after I graduated, but before starting my graduate courses! It doesn’t matter what your studying, whether your pursuing a Masters in Social Work, or an undergraduate degree in art, as long as your taking classes, you can qualify for this discount!

We Want You – Here Are Some Student Discounts

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One of the best places to look for discounts when you’re a student is the restaurants and businesses around campus.  Chances are these places are very conscious of trying to rope in the student demographic and will offer 10-15% off on almost anything.  I used to scoff at 10-15% off, but it really does make a difference over a long enough time period (or I’m just getting old).  If nothing else, do another person a favour and save the 10% on the meal while increasing the tip by 10% (if the person at all deserved it).  Chances are the waiter/waitress was probably a student too if your meal was close to campus, and they will truly appreciate it.  Many movie theatres and entertainment venues also have discounts available if you ask.  There is usually a designated student night, and it’s not as if they check your transcript, you usually just need to present a student card with your name on it.

Get To ‘Em While They’re Young

Contract-related businesses are another area that will give you some pretty nice discounts if you can produce a student card.  Monthly expenses like your cell phone bill (are there still students out there with land lines?), tv/cable/satellite bill, and internet plans nearly always have cool little student deals going on.  While a $5-$10 dollar savings might not look like much initially, when you look at the savings over the length of a contract… well it’s a couple nights out on the town anyway (the financial blogger angel on my shoulder says it would also look nice in dividend investments, index funds, or savings bonds… I hate when that angel is right).

The Squeaky Wheel Keeps Their Pay cheque 

It’s pretty rare for a business of any kind to just bestow a discount upon you because you look like a good person.  If you want to save money on discounts, I’m learning more and more that you definitely need ask for it, so be sure to be vocal.  I think often in society salespeople bank on the social stigmas involved with saving money in order to limit the payouts they have to give on discounts (while still claiming the PR that comes with offering the discount in the first place.  You’re only a poor student once (or in my case, a few times) so take advantage of the student discounts!