By Roxy Barnes

It’s been said before and it’s true. College will leave you with a lifetime of memories. But if you’re not careful it will leave you with nearly a lifetime of debt. That is why students should take advantage of the discounts available simply for being students.

And they are everywhere. Many of these discounts are often listed on your school’s site. But don’t limit your search to just that. By putting your Internet skills to work, you can find discounts on nearly everything you’ll need, and some you wouldn’t expect, like this student carpet cleaning discount.

But that’s not all.  Let’s start with a big way to save money in school – scholarships.

Scholarships

Paying for college is the top concern for the vast majority of college students. Many students may not realize this, but universities often have long lists of private scholarships from businesses and organizations listed somewhere on the financial aid section of their website.

Private scholarships come from every corner of the marketplace and often vary widely in their requirements for entering the scholarship contest. For example, this Halloween costume site offers a cash scholarship for designing a Facebook Cover image for their home page. If you’re more expressive in words, many businesses only require a 500 word essay (or less).

Most of these scholarships aren’t particular about what school you attend. So if your school doesn’t offer very many outside scholarships, check out the pages of some larger universities.

Books and Supplies

Way back in the day students had to buy all of their books from the university bookstore. You paid whatever price they charged and sold them back to the same store when you were done for next to nothing. Talk about buying from the company store – ouch! (Sometimes the good ole days were not so good.)

Now you have choices aplenty for buying your books and supplies. Online sites like Bookbyte.com open up the marketplace so you can shop around for the best deal. Don’t forget to check if your book is available as an eTextbook and save even more.

You probably already realize the savings you can get on software purchases with a student discount, but do some searching for student discounts on computers, tablets and other electronic devices.

Everything else

If there is a product or service that a student can use, you can bet some company is offering a discount on it. Businesses aren’t just doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, they are hoping to win your loyalty now and keep using them for years to come. So even if you don’t see a student discount advertised, don’t hesitate to ask if they have one. What’s the worst they can say?

Even storage companies are getting in on the game, offering student discounts on storage units over summer break. The list goes on, including companies like AmTrak, hotels, clothing stores, even credit cards offering discounted student rates.

If you think searching for student discounts on everything could turn into a time consuming obsession, there are a number of sites that are doing the searching for you. One of the more popular sites is Student Universe. They not only help you find deals on travel and lodging, but have categories of discounts ranging from clothing to food and health.

College is expensive. If you can use your student status to save a few dollars here and there, over the course of a college career the savings adds up. Don’t let that money go to waste. That way, when you look back on your college years, hopefully all you’ll have are great memories, not ones tempered by the specter of debt.

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