The best student discounts, from train cards and laptops to sneakers and pizza

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

However, it can be tough on your wallet to balance paying bills, grocery shopping, and the occasional night out with your student loan.

Fortunately, there are many student deals and discounts that can help you transition into college life and manage your money for the first time.

Signing up to a student discount website will make the process easier, and having your student card will also help you score some deals when you’re away from home.

We’ve looked at some of the best student discounts on offer to help you budget your time at university.

Discount websites

Discount websites like Unidays, Student Beans and Totum, formerly NUS UK, will be your ticket to most student discounts and deals.

Websites will help you verify your student status, usually by registering for free with your university email ending in .ac.uk. They also often offer exclusive deals with some major brands.

Unidays is the most popular student discount website, offering hundreds of benefits including 20 per cent off Nike and a £6 Toby Carvery meal.

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

Totum offers a prepaid Visa cashback card that provides access to up to 14 per cent cashback on purchases made at major brands including Sainsbury’s, Asda, Primark and Ikea.

There is no minimum recharge or recharge fees.

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 at restaurants such as Prezzo and Burger King, as well as 25 percent off at Caffe Nero, Black Sheep Coffee and Krispy Kreme.

Food

While it may be tempting to look for deals on clothing and entertainment, you’d be remiss to overlook student deals on restaurants and takeaways.

The cost of living crisis has made the price of a weekly grocery purchase significantly more expensive.

It’s always helpful to sign up for supermarket loyalty cards and build up a bank of points that you can use when you’re running low on cash.

Pizza is in: Domino’s, Franco Manca and Papa John’s are offering big discounts to students this fall

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

Franco Manca is offering £5 pizzas from its main menu and specials board at all stores until October 20. You’ll need to sign up through the app by October 6 and provide a valid student ID to redeem the offer.

You can also claim a free gift Papa John’s pizza if you sign up for an account, although the offer is only available at participating stores and excludes campus stores.

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

Students enrolled in Unidays will receive £5 back if they spend £15 or more with the meal delivery service. Just eatAlthough it is worth remembering that takeaway can be an expensive habit, grocery orders tend to be excluded from these deals.

Deliveroo also offers free delivery for students.

Finally, Greggs is offering a free slice of pizza to students who sign up for Student Beans starting September 30th.

You will receive a code which you can add to your Greggs app and the voucher will be added to your app wallet. You can redeem it in store or place an order through the app for click and collect.

Travel

If you’re commuting to class or planning a trip to see friends at other colleges, be sure to look for bus and train deals.

A 16-25 train card It will cost you £30 for one year or £70 for three years, and you can save a third on all train journeys. If you have signed up for the Santander student card you will receive it for free, although the offer is now closed.

There are some restrictions, including a minimum fare for travel during peak times, and you also cannot use a railcard when purchasing a season ticket.

LNER It is also offering students a 40 per cent discount on tickets through Unidays, but this will not be combined with other offers, discounts or railcards.

The discount applies to one-way or round-trip travel for you only and can only be used on select advance standard tickets.

If you live in London, you can save 30% on travel passes and bus and tram passes with a student Oyster photo card for those aged 18 or over. You won’t receive any discounts if you use the prepaid or contactless card.

If you are looking to save a little more money, you can opt for a coach and make use of National Express‘ 15 percent student discount, which you can access through Student Beans.

FlixBus It also offers a 10 percent discount, although the coupons expire on December 19 and cannot be combined with any other coupon codes.

Cheap travel: LNER offers students 40% off selected train tickets via Unidays

Technology

If you are looking to upgrade your technology before you start your classes, you may want to take advantage of deals offered by companies like Apple and Microsoft.

If you’re a Unidays subscriber, you can get up to 10 percent off a Mac or iPad and receive a gift card worth up to £120 on eligible products, plus 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. horsepower laptop or accessory.

Once you sign up for the HP Student Store with your student email, you can explore current offers. You can save up to 15% on laptops, desktops, and gaming PCs, 10% on printers, and 40% on accessories.

It’s always worth checking other websites such as Currys and Amazon to make sure you get the best deal, or you can wait until Black Friday or the January sales to grab a cut-price deal.

When you start college, having access to software like Word and Excel is helpful, but it can be expensive if it’s not pre-installed on your laptop.

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

Clothes

If you want to update your wardrobe for welcome week, it doesn’t have to cost you a fortune.

Most major retailers offer some form of student discount, including Asosoffering a 10 percent discount through Unidays.

You can also take advantage of 10 percent discounts on Because15 percent in Discuss and Adidas20 percent in River Island and Dr. Martens and 30 percent in Boo!.

Shoe store Schuh is offering students up to 20% off, even on sale shoes, if they sign up with their student email. The promotion is valid from September 15 online until October 29.

Entertainment

If you’re looking forward to a quiet night out with your new friends, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting the best entertainment on offer. Luckily, there are plenty of student deals you can take advantage of.

If you register for Amazon PrimeYou can get a free 6-month trial and then pay just £4.49 per month. This includes free Prime shipping, access to video, music and photo storage, as well as 10% off selected textbooks.

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

For music lovers, there are many options including: SpotifyFree one month trial and half price subscription at £5.99 per month.

Apple Music It will also cost £5.99, down from the usual £10.99 price, for students, with access to Apple TV at no extra cost.

If you already subscribe to Apple Music, you can change your subscription to a student plan.

YouTube It also offers students a 1-month free trial of its music offering for £5.49 per month.

Subscriptions are valid for a maximum of four years and at the end of each year, you will need to re-verify your eligibility.

You can get the full YouTube Premium package for £7.99, normally £12 per month.

SAVE MONEY, EARN MONEY

Boosting investment

Boosting investment

5.09% cash for Isa investors

Savings rate of 5.27%

Savings rate of 5.27%

90-Day Notice of Account Rate Increase

Free stock offer

Free stock offer

No account fees and free stock trading

4.84% cash Isa

4.84% cash Isa

Flexible ISA now accepting transfers

Transaction fee refund

Transaction fee refund

Get £200 back in trading commissions

Affiliate links: If you purchase a product This is Money may earn a commission. These offers are chosen by our editorial team as we believe they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.