Brandon Kelley
What comes with being a college student besides fun and tons of study time? If you’re like most, it’s a limited budget.
Luckily, there are ways to stretch that budget via freebies, such as these:
Free Food
There’s always something happening on college campuses, and many times, it involves free food. Visit the Free Food on Campus site, and you can see where to grab complimentary grub near you.
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Just click on your state and select your university, and you can see where to feed yourself on campus without paying a penny.
Beyond that site, keep an eye out when you’re strolling around campus. You’re quite likely to find flyers advertising events that offer free food.
You could also come across people handing out goodies to promote their club or something similar.
Free Checking Account
The last thing you want to spend a portion of your budget on is banking fees. Banks in college towns know this, which is why some will offer free checking accounts to students.
If you don’t see any signs for free checking accounts in your town, pick up the phone and call your local credit union or bank. They may offer free accounts privately.
Free Tax Preparation
If you work during college and have an income, you’ll have to file taxes. Instead of paying a professional to help, you can use one of your fellow students for free.
Although this may not be available in every college town, some business students offer free tax prep as part of their coursework. Don’t worry about any mistakes, either, as professors will be checking the work to ensure it’s good to go.
To find out if your college offers free tax prep, contact its business school.
Free Microsoft Office and Other Software
Regardless of your major, you’ll probably have to write a paper or two to graduate. You’ll need software like Microsoft Office to do so, but as a student, you won’t have to pay a thing.
As long as you’re enrolled in school and have a valid email address from your university, you can get Office 365 Education at no cost.
Although not as popular as Office, being a student can also get you access to Autodesk’s suite of a plethora of products that focus on design.
Last, but not least, you’ll want software to protect all of your personal information and passwords. LastPass will give you that for six months at no cost since you’re a student.
Free Amazon Prime
Provided you are enrolled in at least one college course and have a current .edu email address, you can get Amazon Prime and all of its perks for free.
The freebie lasts for six months, but if you want to continue after that, you’ll get a discounted student rate.
If you’re not familiar with Amazon Prime, it allows you to purchase tons of items online with free two-day shipping, plus the following:
- Prime Video and its massive catalog of free streaming TV shows and movies.
- Prime Reading and its vast selection of books.
- Unlimited photo storage.
- Amazon Music Unlimited’s 50 million songs for free.
- Free student product samples in the mail.
- Prime student deals that offer exclusive discounts.
Free Gym Membership
Your on-campus rec center probably has better facilities than most big-name gyms. Best of all, you should be able to use it for free since you’re a student.
Mark Luigi Dacumos
Brandon Kelley