Your first year of college is expensive. You’ll need clothes, textbooks, gadgets, toiletries, food, maybe even furniture and a place to live. Essentially, a ton of crap that your parents paid for your whole life. Luckily, your sweet student discounts can ease that transition.

Stock Up On Cheap Books and School Supplies

 

Your first year of school means you’re going to need a tractor trailer full of textbooks, pens, paper, notebooks, and who knows what else. These places can give you discounts on the essentials:

• Amazon: Deals on new and used textbooks year round.
• Barnes & Noble: No direct student discount, but they have a great textbook rental program.
• Big Words: Comparison shopping site for finding textbook deals across many retailers.
• Chegg: Comparison site for finding large discounts on textbooks.
• The Economist: Discounts on subscriptions for students.
• FedEx: 30% discount on document shipping and 20% on package shipping.
• Guilford Press: Biannual discounts on books, year-long discount on journals offered for full-time students.
• The New York Times: $1 a week subscription with valid student email address.
• The Wall Street Journal: $1 a week subscription for students.

Finding textbooks is going to be one of your toughest and most expensive hurdles. You should also check out our guides on how to save money on textbooks, get them cheap or even free, and find the best deals.

Get a New Wardrobe With Clothing Discounts

 

Whether you’re reinventing your style as a fresh college student or just updating all the clothes that don’t fit anymore, you’re going to need new clothes. Except, clothes are stupid expensive. Fortunately, these stores offer student discounts to ease the pain:

• American Apparel: 25% off online or in-store purchases with UNiDAYS-verified student status.
• Ann Taylor: 15% off full-price with student ID.
• Banana Republic: 15% off full-price with student ID.
• Boohoo: 40% discount with UNiDAYS-verified student status.
• Club Monaco: 20% off purchases in stores and online with valid student ID.
• Goodwill: Regional Goodwill locations offer discount days for anywhere from 10%-50% off certain products. Check your local store for their student program.
• J. Crew: 15% discount when you use a student ID in stores.
• Levi’s: 15% off online orders with UNiDAYS-verified student status.
• The Limited: 15% discount when you present a student ID in stores.
• Madewell: 15% off on in-store purchases with valid student ID.

College is a good time to start looking into buying quality clothes that will last where you can. You can shave your budget my making good use of the clothes you have. Find more ways to save money on clothes in our guid here

Deck Out Your Dorm With Furniture Discounts

Hopefully, you’ll be able to bring along some of the furniture from your parent’s house when you move out to college. If you need to get a few new things to furnish your first place on your own, these discounts can help:

• IKEA Family: No student discount program, but IKEA Family offers discounts and promotions on furniture with free loyalty program.
• Overstock: Free Club O Gold Membership for students and teachers with ID.me verification.
• Pottery Barn: 15% off with .edu email address or college ID.
• West Elm: 15% off with student ID.

Even if you don’t head to the store, there are lots of ways to furnish your new home on the cheap. With a little handiwork, you can make cheap furniture last a long time, and even customize them to fit your style.

Moving up to a new school seems like as good a time as any to nab a new laptop and phone before you head to class. If you need new hardware, these stores will cut you a deal just for furthering your education:

• Adobe: 60% off Creative Cloud subscriptions with a school email address.
• Apple: Various discounts on devices when student status verified with UNiDays (though check for the best time to buy Apple products.)
• Autodesk: Free software licenses for tons of products for students.
• Best Buy: Various discounts when you sign up for College Student Deals.
• Dell: Various discounts for students at qualifying universities.
• LastPass: Six months of LastPass Premium for free with valid university email address.
• Lenovo: Various discounts on laptops and hardware with qualifying university.
• Microsoft: Various discounts on devices and software when you enter your state and college.
• Western Digital: Up to 20% discount with valid school email address.

Tech companies love giving you deals on gadgets, so you might also want to hunt for non-student ways to save money on tech. Also be sure to check out our guide to picking the perfect back-to-school laptop for your needs.

Chill Out and Relax With Some Discounts On Entertainment

You’re going to need some down time every once in awhile (if you can find any). Save some cash on your trip to the movies or your next game console with a few of these deals:

• AMC Theaters: Get $1 off regular movies ($2 off 3D) on Thursdays.
• Cinemark Theaters: Get discounted movie tickets (varies by region) with a valid student ID.
• Regal Theaters: Save $1 on regular movies ($2 on 3D) on Mondays through Thursdays.
• Most Museums: Discounts vary by region, but most museums offer student discounts (if not free admission) for students.
• Xbox: Microsoft runs occasional promotions for Xbox consoles. Currently, get $300 off an Xbox if you’re buying a Surface Pro 4 tablet or Surface Book.