Money Matters: StudentRate.com is THE Hottest Site for Poor College Kids!

By Kathryn S

Being a poor college student sucks…except when other people notice and begin to cater directly to us and our needs. Like the student rate at the movie theater, or Apple’s sweet discount for college students.

Now take the excitement you feel when you get your movie ticket for $10 instead of $12 (wooohoooo!) and multiply that by the thousands of discounts you can get by joining my new favorite discount site just for students, StudentRate.com.

Did you pee your pants yet? (I’m sure they can get you a deal on some new ones!)

This fab new site allows college students to take full advantage of their school ID – all from the coziness of their own dorm rooms.  Even better? The user-friendly layout lets us search deals by category, location, “What’s Hot,” and by browsing keywords to see what pops up.  Of course, the site is free to join (what’s the point in saving money if you have to pay to do so?), so there’s really no reason NOT to take advantage.

Here are some of the best money-savers that I came across in my latest visit to the site:

For Class:

-Microsoft Office for only $59.95? (Where was this site when I was a freshman?) If, for whatever reason, you don’t have Office yet, now’s the time to buy.  True, many of us already have Word and Excel, but if your younger siblings are gearing up for high school graduation, you can wow your family buy buying him or her the package to go with the new laptop SOMEONE in your family is bound to give them.

-50% off E-Textbooks.   Not only does StudentRate have deals onsite, they provide links to other fabulous money saving URLs.  Take CourseSmart.com.  I stumbled upon it via SR, and discovered that you can browse textbook titles and save 50% by buy E-Text.  Pros? You save money, you save trees, and you don’t have to grow a hunchback from lugging 100 pounds of textbooks to each class.

For Health:

-EyeBuyDirect.com is offering a 10% off coupon for SR’s visitors.  Hey, with the price of contact lenses and glasses these days, that 10% can really make a difference.  AND you won’t have to squint to read your professor’s notes on the whiteboard.

-Dick’s Sporting Goods.  50% off select items when you print the coupon on StudentRate.com.  Buy yourself a new pair of running shoes, or a baseball mitt and make a game out of shaping up for the summer!

For Gifts:

-1-800-Flowers.  10% off your total order.  Hey, Mother’s Day is just around the corner!

-BlueFly.com.  There are a variety of discounts available to members only.  Bluefly is a great online shopping source for tons of designer labels.  So whether it’s your BFF’s 21st birthday, or you’ve decided to give yourself an early end-of-semester present, thank StudentRate for hooking you up!

StudentRate is still a fairly new site, so there’s no telling how far its prospects will reach.  They are currently set up to start offering entertainment, travel, and medical discounts to students, as well as regular shopping deals.  It can’t hurt to sign up – after all, if we all ban together, many more companies across the country will take note and start to offer us all discounted merchandise and services. Bring on the deals!