For many people, college is the first time they’re fully financially independent. Sure, you may have been expected to buy some of your own clothes or get a part-time job, but you never had to buy your own food or pay rent before. Managing your money is not easy, but luckily, society at large has responded to the plight of students by offering student discounts!
There are tons of stores that offer special deals just for being a student, ranging from local restaurants to huge corporations like Amazon. I’ve listed a few ideas below to help you take advantage of your studenthood for the next four or more years!
Make a UNiDAYS account.
UNiDAYS is an awesome center for a bunch of student discounts. Just enter your school email address and you’ll have access to all kinds of deals, like on Apple products or your next GrubHub order.
Start Investing with Acorns
One way to make money is investing. I don’t know much about big-bucks, Wall Street investing, but I’m using the app Acorns to start my investment journey. Basically, you link your debit account, the site rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar, and invests the rounded cents according to your goals (short-term, long-term, etc.). And the good news is that students can use the service for free—just sign up with your student email address and mark your occupation as Student!
Check out The Daily Digest!
While this piece of advice is a bit Bryn Mawr specific, the general premise behind it is the same for any school. We pay a lot of money to come to school, and part of that money goes towards funding different on-campus experiences, like student-run clubs and administration-sponsored events, like KCass’ pop-ups or finals destressors. These events are almost always free for students to attend and offer delicious food, games, and fun! Think of it this way—you paid for this, so you might as well go and enjoy it (or at least stand there awkwardly for five minutes, wrap some cookies in a napkin, and leave).