5 Ways Your College Email Can Save You Money in 2024…
If you just enrolled in college or university after paying those outrageous tuition fees or signed off your death sentence on that daunting student loan agreement, well then you may be in for some luck today.
3 months after graduating college, it came as a shock to me to discover that some of my friends missed out on the hidden potentials of their college email addresses. It was during one of our customary catch-up sessions when the conversation took an unexpected turn. They lamented that they were unaware of how I afforded some of the most-exciting digital services while living “the hard knock life” as a student.
Well, in the subsequent paragraphs I’ll reveal the numerous budget-saving possibilities that have been resting in your inboxes all along. So, if you’re a recent enrolee, brace yourself for a revelation that could improve your educational journey and change the financial game for you in 2024.
Let’s begin with something less academic here;
1. Discount on Apple Music and Free Apple TV
A personal favourite — basically as a student with an email address that ends with “.edu” or “.ac.uk”, or a mixture of that with your country code top-level domain (ccTLD) [for example “.au” for Australia or “edu.gh” for Ghana],
You stand the chance of enjoying a discounted Apple Music subscription that comes with a FREE Apple TV+ subscription. Yes! You get to enjoy an Apple TV subscription and access to all the best new shows and films that the platform offers through your Apple Music subscription which should cost you about $5.99 a month.
How to get this offer?
To get this unlimited offer, you should go through UniDays (a discount website founded in 2011 that is available for free to students worldwide) instead of going directly through Apple (where the offer is limited to 48 months). Access the UniDays offer here at zero additional cost.
All you need is your student email address.
Bad news: The Offer ends a year after you graduate.. after which you’d have to pay up (but you’d be working then right, right?).
2. Free Educational Softwares and Graphic Design Tools.
This, I believe most people are aware of because IT Departments strive to let us know in the first weeks of orientation. Most colleges in partnership with some popular tech corporations provide free subscriptions or subsidies to softwares that directly benefit students in their educational/career journey. For example; Most schools provide free access to the entire suite of Microsoft Office 365 (which literally encompasses everything from Excel to PowerPoints and Word).
Here’s a list of some of these softwares and graphic design tools (mostly for students in the creative space);
P.S: This may be subjective to your college or location.
And don’t forget the free Google Docs which doesn’t even require a specific student email address.
One thing to also keep in mind is that most cloud services provide discounted services for students so it’s always best to do a bit of research or clicking around before surrendering a full commitment.
3. Discount on tech sales and accessories
You’d definitely need some new tech hardware/accessories for this journey. Whether it’s laptops, iPads or earphones, these are indispensable in maxing out productivity while remaining independent of other folks help or the college library.
Most of the famous tech corporations would have you covered on this one and may not even require a student email.
Apple provides educational pricing for most of their Macs and iPads and may sometimes even throw in some free Beats by Dre headphones or a Giftcard. Alongside this, the on board softwares may give you a free run for at least 2 months. Most of these offers are available both online and in-person (local Apple Store)
4. Free access to online educational courses
Moreover, your college email is a gateway to a treasure trove of free online educational resources. Many platforms offer discounted or even entirely free courses to students with a valid college email address. Leverage this perk to expand your skill set, explore new interests, and enhance your resume without breaking the bank. Here are a number of these websites;
- Github
Github through their GitHub Student Developer Pack, provides majority of benefits to students who meet the following entry-requirements:
- Be in school, enrolled in either a degree or a diploma program.
- Have a verifiable school-issued email address.
- Be at least 13 years old.
Thus, In order for you to qualify for this deal must meet the above requirements + own a Github account. The program entails training for hosting domain names and many other design tools. So do check it out!
Check out the following links for free online courses at these renowned colleges;
- Harvard University Free Online Courses
- University College London (UCL) Free Online Courses
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
These university provide free access to a wide range of topics that encompass Coding, Liberal Arts, Advanced Mathematics, Biological science, Game theory in economics etc. Thus, you can browse this catalogue and find a gem for your personal growth even if you’re not a student of any of these institutions. Find an even longer list of these courses here
5. Access to discounted databases for research
You know those moments when you needed a vital information from a well researched journal article and it appeared behind an intrusive paywall that you simply couldn’t get rid off cause you’re lowkey broke, well it may interest you to know that most of these websites provide free access to college students who need the information for a coursework or assignment/dissertation. For example; you may check research databases like HeinOnline, or WexLaw. They’ll need your college sign-in credentials to grant you access if your school does have a partnership with them.
With your student email, you could have free online access to scholarly journals and publications that aren’t restricted behind paywalls.
This website provides a long list of 21 research and database websites that are free for students.
Conclusion
So there it is! Whether it’s entertainment or personal growth or a new purchase, I hope this article helped you realise the potential of your student email address and some valuable use cases. Do leave a comment below.
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