Best student discounts, from railcards and laptops to trainers and pizza

Leaving home for college is exciting. The prospect of a new city, experiences, and new independence are some of the best things about being a freshman.

Still, paying for your bills, groceries, and the occasional night out, on top of your student debt, can be a significant financial challenge.

Luckily, there are plenty of student deals and discounts available to help you transition into student life and manage your money for the first time.

The process becomes a lot easier if you sign up with a student discount website. And with your student card, you can also take advantage of discounts when you’re on the go.

We’ve looked at some of the best student discounts to help you budget while you’re studying.

Discount websites

Discount websites such as Unidays, Student Beans and Totum, formerly NUS UK, give you access to most student discounts and offers.

The websites help you verify your student status, usually by signing up for free with your university email address ending in .ac.uk. They also often have exclusive deals with some big brands.

Unidays is the most popular website for student discounts, offering hundreds of benefits including 20 percent off Nike and a Toby Carvery meal worth £6.

Student Beans offers discounts on films, TV and cinema, as well as technology and mobile phones.

Totum offers a cashback pre-pay Visa card that gives you up to 14 percent cashback on purchases from major brands such as Sainsbury’s, Asda, Primark and Ikea.

There is no minimum amount or top-up fee.

You’ll also receive a free Tastecard and Coffee Club membership, which the NUS says can save students £234 a year.

Other benefits include 2-for-1 discounts at restaurants such as Prezzo and Burger King, and 25 percent off Caffe Nero, Black Sheep Coffee and Krispy Kreme.

Food

While it may be tempting to look for deals on clothing and entertainment, you would be remiss to ignore the student deals on offer at restaurants and takeaways.

The cost of living crisis has made weekly shopping much more expensive.

It is always useful to apply for a customer card from the supermarket and build up a savings pot with points. You can use this when you are almost out of money.

There are also plenty of restaurant and takeaway deals for students, especially if you like pizza.

Franco Manca is offering £5 pizzas from their main menu and specials board in all stores until October 20. You must sign up via the app before October 6 and present a valid student card to redeem the offer.

You can also get a free Papa John’s pizza when you sign up for an account. However, this offer is only valid at participating stores and not at campus stores.

And if you haven’t had enough pizza yet, Dominoes is offering half price pizza when you sign up through Student Beans. There are terms and conditions, including a minimum spend, and it cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion.

Students who have signed up for Unidays will receive £5 back when they spend £15 or more on the meal delivery service Just eatalthough it is worth remembering that takeaway can be an expensive habit, and grocery orders are often excluded from these deals.

Deliveroo also offers free delivery for students.

Finally, Gregg offers students who have registered for Student Beans from September 30 a free slice of pizza.

You will receive a code to add to your Greggs app and the voucher will be placed in the app wallet. You can redeem it in store or order via the app for click and collect.

Travel

If you have to attend lectures or are planning a trip to visit friends from other universities, keep an eye on the bus and train offers.

A 16-25 train ticket will cost you £30 for a year or £70 for three years, and you can save a third on all train travel. If you’ve signed up for a Santander student card you’ll get one for free, although the offer is now closed.

There are some restrictions, such as a minimum fare for travelling during peak hours. In addition, you cannot use a railcard if you buy a season ticket.

LNER also offers students a 40 percent discount on tickets through Unidays, but this cannot be used in conjunction with other offers, discounts or railcards.

The discount applies to a single or return journey for yourself and can only be used on selected standard tickets that you purchase in advance.

If you live in London, you can save 30 percent on travelcards, bus and tram passes with an 18+ student Oyster photocard. You won’t get a discount if you use prepaid or your contactless card.

If you want to save a little more money, you can opt for a coach and use National Express’15 percent student discount, available through Student Beans.

FlixBus also offers a 10 percent discount, but the vouchers expire on December 19 and cannot be combined with other voucher codes.

Technology

If you want to upgrade your technology before you start your classes, you can take advantage of the deals offered by companies like: Apple And Microsoft.

If you’re signed up to Unidays, you’ll get up to 10 percent off a Mac or iPad, plus a gift card worth up to £120 towards eligible products. You’ll also get 20 percent off AppleCare+.

If a Macbook is out of your budget, you can also get up to 40 percent off the cost of a new one PK laptop or accessory.

Once you log in to the HP Student Store with your student email address, you can view current deals. You can save up to 15 percent on laptops, desktops, and gaming PCs, 10 percent on printers, and 40 percent on accessories.

It is always worth checking other websites such as Currys and Amazon to make sure you are getting the best deal. Alternatively, wait until the Black Friday or January sales to get a bargain.

When you go to university, it is useful to have access to software programs such as Word and Excel, but it can be expensive if they are not pre-installed on your laptop.

Office 365 offers Microsoft Office for free for students once you sign up with your student email address. If you want to use Microsoft Access or Microsoft Publisher, you will need to pay £2.20 per month.

Clothes

If you want to refresh your wardrobe for the chilly week, it doesn’t have to cost a lot.

Most major retailers offer a student discount, including: Asoswhich offers a 10 percent discount through Unidays.

You can also take advantage of 10 percent discounts at Because15 percent at Conversing And Adidas20 percent at River Island And Dr. Martens and 30 percent at Boohoo.

Shoe store Schuh is offering students up to 20 percent off, including sale shoes, if they sign up with their student email address. The deal is valid online from September 15 through October 29.

Entertainment

If you’re looking for a quiet night in with your new friends, you’ll want to make sure you have the best entertainment around. Luckily, there are plenty of student deals to take advantage of.

When you sign up for Amazon Primeyou can get a 6-month free trial and after that you’ll pay just £4.49 per month. This includes free Prime delivery, access to video, music and photo storage, as well as 10 percent off selected textbooks.

Prime members can also buy two tickets for £10 at Odeon cinemas.

For music lovers, there are plenty of options, including: Spotifya one-month free trial and a half-price subscription of £5.99 per month.

Apple Music also costs £5.99, down from the normal price of £10.99, for students, with access to Apple TV at no extra cost.

If you already have an Apple Music subscription, you can change your subscription to a student subscription.

YouTube also offers students a 1-month free trial of their music offering, priced at £5.49 per month.

Subscriptions are valid for up to four years. At the end of each year, you must re-verify your right to a subscription.

For £7.99 you get the full YouTube Premium package, normally £12 a month.