Check With Your School First for Software Discounts
If you need special software for your schoolwork, like the Microsoft Office suite, Adobe Creative Cloud, SolidWorks, MatLab, ChemDraw, or anything else, always check with your institution before you buy them for yourself. Schools, and even individual departments, often purchase bulk licenses or discounts for their students, and asking could save you a ton of money.
The Best Software and Service Deals for Students
There are a million and one software packages and services out there that you might need or want as a student. Always check the developer’s website thoroughly before you buy or subscribe to anything — you might find a student discount! Here are a few popular ones.
The Best Hardware Deals
All the sweet software deals in the world don’t mean anything if you don’t have the right hardware to go with it. Most computer manufacturers, and some distributors, offer special student discounts.
Acer: Acer has an enormous lineup of laptops, monitors, and other peripherals. The company offers 10% off most purchases except orders over $5,000 dollars, Chromebooks, and items that are already discounted. Acer’s student discount is handled through Student Beans. Apple: Apple offers a variety of discounts on its hardware. More expensive items, like the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro, or an iMac, are discounted about $100 dollars for students. Less expensive items, like iPads, are discounted about $50 dollars. Students currently qualify for 20% off an AppleCare+ plan if they purchase the whole plan up front — two years for iPad or three years for MacBooks — rather than pay monthly. Students might also qualify for a $150 dollar gift card, which is enough to cover the cost of some peripherals. B&H Photo: B&H is most well known for specializing in photography and filmmaking equipment, but the stores sell a wide range of other tech products, including laptops, computer components, flash drives, and just about anything else a modern student might require. The discounts vary between items, but it is definitely worth signing up and checking their inventory any time you need to make a purchase. Their student discount program also includes free shipping. Best Buy: Best Buy runs a back-to-school special every year for students. The discounted amount differs between products, but discounts between 10% and 20% are normal. Best Buy also regularly runs other discounts and promotions that’ll benefit students (though they’re not specifically for students), so be sure to keep an eye on their deals throughout the year. Dell: Dell makes some of the best Windows laptops and best computer monitors out there. Students can sign up for a coupon using their “. edu” email address to receive discounts on tons of items on the Dell website. The discounted amount varies, like with most student discounts, but the savings can easily be a few hundred dollars. HP: Hewlett-Packard manufactures everything from laptops to printers. HP offers up to 40% off on some purchases, and all you need to do is provide your “. edu” email address. You also get free shipping. Lenovo: Lenovo offers a 5% discount across most of its products, which includes an expansive array of laptops, desktops, and other tech products. All you need to do is verify your student status through ID. me. Microsoft: Microsoft offers 10% off some Surface devices and their peripherals. You’ll need a valid educational email address to qualify. If you have already signed up with a “. edu” email account to get access to Office 356, you’ll automatically be eligible for discounts at the Microsoft Store.
How to Find Deals on Everything Else
This isn’t an exhaustive list of discounts available to students. Promotions and deals come and go regularly, and keeping up with all of them can be quite a task, especially if you’re trying to focus on your classes.
There are a few websites that are designed specifically to help with that. The two most prominent are StudentBeans and UNiDAYS. They both collate student discounts, so you don’t have to spend as much time hunting down student discounts yourself. They’re also commonly used by manufacturers, developers, and retailers to verify your status as a student, so there is a good chance you have an account with them already if you’ve applied for a student discount before.
The deals collected by UNiDAYS and StudentBeans cover more than just technology, though — you can find deals for everything from shoes to eyewear to class supplies. They’re definitely worth checking out if you’re a college student trying to save some money.
