Spring Break
Student Advantage takes a bit of effort
The Student Advantage program hopes to help students keep a little cash for themselves — at a reasonable price, of course. College students pay $20 a year ($60 if you purchase a four year subscription) for a Student Advantage discount card. This piece of plastic guarantees various savings at over 15,000 locations.
Everything from music (10 percent off at Tower Records), books (5 percent off from http://Barnes&Noble.com), travel (15 percent off Amtrak rail fairs) and flowers (10 percent off at 1-800-flowers.com) comes to you at a discounted price. Current members can even refer friends, earning themselves four bucks for the scouting.
The card comes with a $20 gift certificate valid towards a round-trip ticket on US. Airways, which serves to pay for a subscription. The company's partnership with US. Air doesn't end there. Students can get up to four savings certificates that save money flights and automatically garner 5,000 frequent-flier miles with the first purchase of a US. Air ticket online.
Restrictions apply on all these offers so be sure to check http://studentadvantage.com for details.
Speaking of which, the card's Web site is a great resource for card-carriers. Enter "Johns Hopkins University" into the site's search field and out pops a list of local merchants and their respective discounts. Recognize any of the listings under pizza? You should — each of them has 50 or so fliers stuffed in your mailbox.
Student Advantage was founded in 1992 and has since been the media and commerce connection for millions of college students and businesses. The company's Web site and its partner, http://CollegeClub.com, reach students at college campuses nationwide. It's exclusive partnerships with thousands of merchants provides students with incomparable discount opportunities.
"It's the national relevance plus the local relevance," stresses Student Advantage Vice President of University and Community Development Brian Farley. "You get great local discounts as well as offers with national organizations like Amtrak, US Airways, Greyhound."
"I get great deals from it," commented freshman Al Swisston. "I grew up in Baltimore and all the places I've always gone to, I can shop at cheaper now. It's like I got screwed for 18 years."
But don't expect to pawn off your friend's card as your own. Swiston warned: "My friend tried to get to D.C. on the Greyhound using my card, but they asked him for his ID, too. When the names didn't match, they started accosting him. I nearly lost the card."
Is this the program for you? Well, if you're like most college students, you're lazy. You try to get by with as little work as possible. If you're like most Johns Hopkins students I've met, you're still lazy — you just pretend that you aren't. The problem is, the card will benefit you most the more you actively seek out discounts. Eating meals at one place instead of another. Ordering three calzones with some friends instead of one for yourself.
"You should try it out for a year and see how much you use it," commented sophomore Madhu Reddy. "Just tell your parents it makes it cheaper for you to visit them more often; they'll probably fork over twenty bucks." Good advice, but Reddy warns, "Sometimes you can get offers at an even greater discount by not using the card."
The card will save you money, but it takes effort on your part. After a while you might find the cash accumulating. You still won't be able to afford cable service for your dorm room, but you'll get rid of the guilty feeling you get from sneaking into the exit of Terrace.