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Best Student Discounts, Deals and Freebies of 2023

Save money by taking advantage of the best student discounts on the market.

Charlotte Maracina Associate Writer
Charlotte Maracina is an associate writer for CNET based in Long Island, New York. When not writing about top products on the market, she's traveling, binging Love Island or following Harry Styles on tour.
Expertise Charlotte has two years of experience tracking different travel, fashion and lifestyle trends among 18-24 year olds. She studied Communications and Sociology at Belmont University.
Clifford Colby Managing Editor
Clifford is a managing editor at CNET, where he leads How-To coverage. He spent a handful of years at Peachpit Press, editing books on everything from the first iPhone to Python. He also worked at a handful of now-dead computer magazines, including MacWEEK and MacUser. Unrelated, he roots for the Oakland A's.
Expertise Tech from browser security to password managers and government programs from mail-in voting to federal assistance
Charlotte Maracina
Clifford Colby
8 min read
See at Paramount Plus
Paramount Plus Logo
Paramount Plus
25% off student discount
See at Peloton
aplicaciones para hacer ejercicios gratis
Peloton
$7 a month after a 30-day free trial
See at Apple
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Apple TV Plus
Free with Apple Music subscription
See at Apple
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Apple Music
$6 a month
See at YouTube
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YouTube Premium
$7 a month
See at Amazon
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Amazon Music Unlimited
$1 a month
See at Spotify
spotify-logo-2
Spotify Premium Student with Hulu
$6 a month
See at Hulu
hulu-student-plan
Hulu
$2 a month
See at The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal Student Discount
The Wall Street Journal
Student Digital Pack, $4; Student Digital and Print Pack, $10
See at The Economist
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The Economist
Students and educators take 75% off
See at Alo Moves
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Alo Moves
Two week free trial
See at Quizlet
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Quizlet Plus
Free 7-day trial
See at Chegg
Chegg App
Chegg
25% off first month subscription
See at You Need a Budget
YNAB
You Need a Budget
First year free
See at Bank of America
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Bank of America Student Banking
No monthly fees
See at Wells Fargo
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Wells Fargo Student Checking
No monthly fees
See at Microsoft
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Office 365 Education
Free for students
See at Evernote
Evernote Mood Board
Evernote Premium
40% off
$40 at StackSocial
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The Complete Resoume AI Assistant Resumé Writer: Lifetime Subscription
77% off
See at Amazon
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Amazon Prime Student
6 months free, then $69 a year
See at Best Buy
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Best Buy
Exclusive discounts
See at Groupon
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Groupon
Save an extra 25% on local deals
See at Lenovo
lenovo-yog-c930-26
Lenovo laptops
Save an extra 5%
See at Adorama
Adorama Logo
Adorama Students GearUp
Exclusive discounts

College is supposed to be the best time of your life. During these formative years, you're expected to explore new interests and discover who you are and who you want to be. But this experience is sometimes overshadowed by financial woes. The truth is that being a college student can be tough. Most days, it feels like a constant struggle -- not just emotionally and mentally but most of all financially. I can testify to this, having recently graduated from college, where I ate nothing but croutons and cereal for a week to avoid grocery shopping. Luckily, thanks to Spotify and Hulu's student discounts, paying steep fees for these streaming services was one financial burden I didn't have to worry about.

Trying to find the best student discounts used to be tough, but times have changed. Recognizing the financial strain on college students, many companies now offer student discounts to help ease this stress and, hopefully, attain a lifelong customer in the process. You just have to verify your student status. For example, with a valid .edu school email address or proof of enrollment (via a validation service such as SheerID or Unidays), you can score the best student discounts on Microsoft Office, Spotify, Hulu and even Amazon Prime. 

In this article, we've rounded up all the best student discount opportunities. Be sure to check with your school's housing department and student bookstore as well, where you might find certain streaming services for free or cheap. You can also find extra discounts on devices and software. For more information, see the best free apps for college students who need to save money and time, plus the best student credit cards

Read more: Best Laptops for College for 2023

Student discounts on fitness and entertainment

These popular music and video streaming services give you breaks on subscriptions once you verify your student status. And Peloton just got in on the act as well.

Engadget

Dying to watch the iCarly reboot but can't afford Paramount Plus?

College students no longer need to worry about that. Paramount Plus offers all college students 25% off a Paramount Plus subscription, bringing the bill down from $5 a month to $4. All you have to do is verify your student status before signing up for a subscription. 

Saving a buck a month, your only worry will be whether to watch Big Brother or Big Time Rush.

César Salza/CNET

You don't need a Peloton bike in order to take Peloton classes, which include not only cycling, but also HIIT, running, strength training, yoga and more. The Peloton app offers all that via phone, tablet and most streaming devices.

The regular subscription price is $13 a month; verified students with a valid college ID can get it for half that. Additionally, you get the first month free if you've never tried Peloton before.

Apple

Apple's streaming service is already fairly affordable at $7 a month, but if you're a full-time student, you can sign up for a student subscription (see below) and you'll get Apple TV Plus at no extra charge. Students can get these two services bundled together for $6 a month, as described below. Decisions, decisions!

Apple/Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

In addition to hardware discounts (see below), Apple offers its Music subscription service for students for up to four years. That subscription nets you access to some 50 million songs, and it's accessible on all your Apple devices. You also get Apple TV Plus.

YouTube

Normally $12 a month, YouTube Premium is a two-fer: You get ad-free YouTube videos (including the option to download them for offline viewing) and unlimited access to YouTube Music for just $7 a month.

Just want YouTube Music? That service is $5 a month for students (regularly $10). Both options allow for a free one-month trial if you want to test the waters first.

Amazon

Not to be confused with the Prime Music benefit, which is included with an Amazon Prime subscription, or Prime Student, which you can read about below. Music Unlimited is Amazon's full-on, massive-library music service, which rivals the likes of Apple Music and Spotify. Anyone who has a student subscription can get Music Unlimited for just $6 a month after a free 30-day trial -- by far the cheapest music-streaming option anywhere.

Angela Lang/CNET

Arguably the best student deal in the history of student deals, Spotify Premium offers a $6 ad-free plan that includes Hulu (ad-supported). Nonstudents pay a minimum of $10 and $8 a month, for a grand total of $18. That's an awful lot of entertainment for $6.

If you already have a premium account, it's easy enough to convert to the student version. If you're part of a family plan, however, check into whether it would be cheaper for the family to keep you on the $16 plan.

Just want Hulu? Keep reading.

Hulu

If you don't need or want Spotify or Showtime, Hulu proper now offers a dirt-cheap deal for students: Just $2 monthly for the standard plan (meaning with commercials), $6 off the regular price.

As with most any discounted membership, you just need to prove your eligibility with a valid student ID. Thankfully, this offer is good even if you're already a Hulu subscriber. It's not just for newcomers.

The Wall Street Journal

Keeping up with the news as a college student can be particularly challenging as online newspapers begin to up their subscription prices and print newspapers go out of business. If you want to stay in touch with what's happening in the world but don't want to pay outrageous subscription prices, The Wall Street Journal has the package for you. 

For $4 a month full-time students can gain unlimited access to all articles and podcasts on The Wall Street Journal website. Prefer to read a physical newspaper? The WSJ also offers a Student Digital and Print Pack for $10 a month.

The Economist

Learn about the world and the forces that shape it with a subscription to UK-based news magazine The Economist. Sign up now to get 75% off annual and monthly subscriptions.

Alo Moves

At-home workouts are hard, but Alo Moves helps to make them easy. Alo Moves offers guided classes in everything from pilates to yoga to dance cardio and even just announced their new running series, "Ready, Set, Run." After a two week free trial, the subscription costs $13 per month or you can do the annual subscription for $129 per year. 

Student discounts on education 

Need help studying? Here are some of the best sources to help with learning, writing papers and acing the test.

Quizlet

Chances are, most college students have used Quizlet once or twice to help out with a study guide. Quizlet makes it easy for students to study using flash cards, practice exams and more. Even better, you can look at flash cards made by other users to help with your studying. Quizlet also recently announced the launch of a new AI-powered program making it even easier to make flash cards, take notes and study for upcoming exams. 

Quizlet Plus provides expert solutions to complicated problems and enhanced studying techniques. After your first free trial week, Quizlet Plus offers two payment options: annual payments of $36 or monthly payments of $8.

Apple

Chegg stands out as a college favorite for homework help, writing assistance and exam prep. Additionally, Chegg offers students the opportunity to buy new and used textbooks as well as a platform to sell them.

Chegg subscriptions start at $16 per month, but students can receive a 25% discount off their first month subscription through Student Beans

Need more convincing? All Chegg Premium members can also receive a free Calm App subscription.

Student discounts on money management

If there's one thing most students could use a hand with, it's managing money.

You Need a Budget

You Need a Budget offers a wealth of tools and classes to that end. It normally costs $99 a year or $15 per month, but as a student you can get the first year absolutely free. But be warned, unlike a lot of other digital services, the only way you get this discount is by submitting physical proof of enrollment to the company.

James Martin/CNET

Financial institutions may offer student deals as well. Bank of America, for example, will waive monthly fees if you do all your banking through its banking app and ATMs.

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo offers a similar deal to Bank of America's and will waive monthly fees for students 17 to 24 years old.

Student discounts on apps and software

While you may be able to get software at a discount through your school's bookstore, you won't do any better than free.

Microsoft

Microsoft sells Office Home & Student for $150. But you can do better than that with the free Office 365 Education, which gives you access to the online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Microsoft Teams (the latter is potentially useful for organizing and executing group projects) and other Office apps for free. All that's required is a valid school email address.

Evernote

Evernote gives students 40% off the professional version for a year. That works out to $6 a month for industrial-strength note-taking. After that first year, however, the price goes back to the regular $11 monthly.

StackSocial

A resume is one of the most important aspects of an initial job or internship application so make sure you have it done right with Resoume, the AI resume writer. It's simple all you have to do is import your information from LinkedIn, choose the resume theme and let Resoume do the rest. You can get this helpful tool for 77% off, taking the initial price tag of $180 all the way down to $40. 

Student discounts on shopping and tech

From Amazon to Groupon, you can save up to 50% on services and devices.

Read more: All the latest coupons from Amazon, Best Buy, Groupon, Lenovo and Microsoft.

Amazon

With an Amazon Prime Student membership, you can all get the benefits of a Prime subscription for half the price of the regular service. The student program includes free one- and two-day shipping, video streaming via Prime Video, Prime Reading, Prime Music, discounts at Whole Foods, and unlimited online photo storage through Prime Photos.

Prime Student starts with a free six-month trial and then goes for $69 a year (half the cost of a regular Prime subscription). You can participate for four years. Plus, if you rent or buy or sell textbooks through the Amazon textbook store, you can get free two-day shipping.

Best Buy

Best Buy offers student savings on a wide variety of products, from laptops to TVs to mini fridges. To get the discounts (which in some cases can be applied to existing sale prices), you need to create or sign into your My Best Buy account, then sign up for student deals. Thankfully, you don't need an .edu email address, and in fact you don't actually have to be a student; parents of college and K-12 students can sign up as well. 

Groupon

Groupon's program affords college students an extra 25% off food, drink, activity and other local deals. That's for the first six months. After that, you save 15% for as long as you remain an eligible student.

Angela Lang/CNET

Students, teachers and administrators can all score an extra 5% off Lenovo's laptops and that's on top of any existing sales or bundles (with a few exclusions, of course). You'll have to provide verification at checkout.

Adorama

Adorama's new program promises exclusive discounts on video, audio and photography gear, from brands like Sigma, Sony and Fujifilm. To sign up, just set up an Adorama account and then use Sheer ID to verify your student status.