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With a new school year approaching, college students have to start thinking about what they’ll spend their money on, from supplies like backpacks and planners, dorm room essentials like sheets to decor, and other amenities, like fitness programs and entertainment options. They’ll also start thinking about how to save in the face of inflation. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), 68% of shoppers have seen higher prices on back-to-class items this year, so discount programs and discounts are especially important. 37% of back-to-college shoppers told NRF that they’re looking for sales now more than ever, too.
SKIP AHEAD How to find student discounts | Best student discounts programs | Best student discounts
Numerous brands and retailers offer college student discount programs and discounts, and gaining access to savings is often as simple as showing your student ID or sharing your school email address. As a student, you may have access to some discounts for the full duration of your schooling, while others are available for a limited time this year. We rounded up those up below.
Keep in mind that you can often save even more by using a credit card for back to school shopping, some of which offer cash back bonuses and the ability to earn credits to use towards future purchases.
Instead of looking through individual brands’ and retailers’ websites, we consulted sites like UNiDAYS, Student Beans, SheerID and ID.me to find student discounts. You can do this, too, by searching for specific brands and retailers or by browsing discounts by category like office supplies or fashion, for example. You also can see if savings are available in-person, online or both.
Additionally, some brands and retailers use these student discount finders to verify your student status so you can get your student discount online — in stores, you can usually just show a cashier your ID. When you make an account with UNiDAYS, Student Beans or ID.me, for example, you have to use your school email address, your college or university name and your graduation year. Then, when you click on a student discount on a specific brand or retailer’s website that uses the student ID verification platform , you can quickly receive your unique discount code.
DePinho has used most of these services to look for discounts — she noted that UNiDAYS and Student Beans sends email newsletters with highlighted discounts and deals, too, Though she hasn’t used as many as DePinho, Malin has saved on everything from area rugs to backpacks using UNiDAYS. (She’s also taken advantage of discounts on platforms like Hulu and Disney+ during college.)
Some retailers run student membership programs, where you can enroll through their websites, while others only offer them in-store and others still offer both. Through our research, we found that membership programs usually offer perks like rewards, exclusive deals, free returns and more, while student discounts solely offer savings on purchases. Below, we included some programs you may be interested in.
In addition to the retailer programs we think you should know about, we put together a list of student discounts. A warning: This list is by no means exhaustive. We chose these student discounts because we’ve previously featured the brand in our coverage or because the brand offers products or services we think you’ll want to know about. Some discounts are for a single offer — like a discounted membership to a delivery or streaming service — while other discounts are category-specific or sitewide offers. We listed discounts under categories below to help guide your shopping.
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