By Pinn Duong

If there’s one New Year’s resolution that will be repeated every year and will sustain you the most in the long-term and the short-term, it’s making a vow to save more money. Budgeting as a student is an endless problems (that is, until your student life ends), but knowing a few tricks and tools can relieve the stress.

Unidays

Unidays partners with various popular brands (in tech, fashion, beauty, fitness) to offer discounts and exclusive deals to students. The most common discount rate is 10-15% off, but deals can be as high as 60%. But don’t be blinded with all the discount numbers, as discounts do not automatically guarantee the best prices, so always shop around before swiping your card.

Cash Back Credit Cards

Thanks to a previous GCC international student blogger, Zerin Firoze, who shared some of her money-saving tips as an international student, I learned about building a good credit score and cash back rewards. If you are an international student or without an SSN, you should research and compare different (secured) credit cards before deciding which suits you best.

Extra note for international students: if you plan on residing in the US for the next several years, it’s important and almost necessary to build good credit history to prove that you are a reliable borrower, which determines whether and how well you can get loans, rent a desirable apartment or buy high-priced items like cars. 

After much research and from personal experiences, Discover it Student Cash Back arguably offers the highest rewards, cashback and perks for students and beginners who are learning to build credit.

• 5% cashback in rotating categories each quarter: For example, it’s January right now so you’ll be able to earn 5% cashback from groceries stores until end of March. This is in addition to unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
• Good Grades Rewards: $20 statement credit each school year your GPA is at least 3.0 for up to the next 5 years.
• Other perks: cashback match at the end of the first year, free FICO score, low fees and forgiveness for your first late payment.

Greyhound Student Advantage for bus rides

If you are car-less (like me) and rely on buses to travel during vacations, a Greyhound Student Advantage Card, which costs $30 per year, offers 10% off tickets and 15% off nationwide shipping. The Student Advantage Discount Card also offer students exclusive discounts from major retailers, travel and entertainment providers partners. You can find their up-to-date lists of partnership with national brands here.

Additionally, Greyhound also offers a road reward program in which you collect points every time you travel. The points add up quick, you receive 1 point per one-way Economy trip (or 3 points per one-way Flexible fare). The higher the points, the higher the rewards (This program is for anyone who signs up for it, not just students.)

Freebird for Uber/Lyft rides 

Again, if you are car-less, you either rely on buses for long trips and Uber/Lyft for short rides. Freebird allows you to earn points/rewards for every ride you take with Uber or Lyft, in addition to generous promo bonuses during special occasions. Highly rated on both Google Play Store and Apple Store (4.7 and 4.8, respectively), Freebird is much more generous in rewards and cashback than Uber built-in systems. Specifically, you can cash back at least $10 (which equates to 5000 points) after 20 rides (250 points/ride).

Cons: you can only connect the app to either Lyft or Uber one at a time, not both. This is a detriment since many people are connected to Uber, but Lyft often offers cheaper rides. Also, Freebird ‘s rewards 250 points per ride regardless of the distance, whether it’s 4 miles or 30 miles. On the bright side, Freebird doubles up the points during special occasions or holidays.

This app is also something I learned from GCC international student blog post by Zerin.

Student Universe for flights

This online travel agency offers cheap flights for students and faculty. To get the best price, it’s advisable to book ticket at least 1.5-2  months in advance. As a trade-off for their super cheap fares, there are many restrictions: tickets are mostly non-refundable, and it will be very costly to change ticket details (such as dates, destination, passenger). So only book on Student Universe if you are dead sure your trip details will not change later on. I had comfortable and affordable experiences using Student Universe so far, but that is because there were not any post-booking or last-minute changes to my trips/flights and I luckily never had to deal with the reputably unfriendly customer service. 

This is an example of ticket fares for a round-trip flight from JFK to LAX booking 1.5 months in advance.

If you’re looking for more money-saving tips, I recommend you to check out Zerin’s previous blog posts (part 1, part 2) on the topic.

I personally have used all of these services at least three times and have had positive experiences with them in my money-saving battle, so rest assured none of those recommendations are monetized ads. Happy 2020 and happy savings!

Featured image by kstudio from Freepik.