10 Ways to Take Advantage of Being a Student

With the exception of ridiculous tuition fees, being a student has quite a few perks:

Gym Membership- Never in your life will you pay so little to belong to a gym. Many campuses offer flat fees for unlimited usage of the school gym for the semester. Depending on the school, some campuses even offer free personalized exercise plans. Introductions to the gym and how to use the equipment are also offered if not required to join.

Library- This happens to be the service I take advantage of the most. There are thousands upon thousands of books at your fingertips. Not to mention online databases with access to scholarly journals. The best advantage with the school library is that many allow you to renew your books online. Don't waste your money on buying books for your classes; check them out from the library and save yourself several hundred dollars a semester.

Consumer Purchases- Take advantage of discounts given to students. Apple offers discounts for not only students, but faculty of schools as well. Just hit in your school zip code and select the institution you go to.

Local restaurants- While I've yet to see big-name chains offering discounts to students, privately-owned restaurants near campuses seem to always have some sort of student discount going on. Next time you go to have a taco at the taqueria down the street, see if they run any 'Buy one, get one free' promotions.

Transportation- Buy your bus pass or Metrolink pass through the college. No need in paying extra. Also look into weekend discounts if you are just looking into using the Metro for an excursion.

Auto insurance- If you have over a 3.0 GPA, most auto insurances offer a 'Good Student' discount. I save 10% on mine through this (forty dollar saving a year).

Movies- While moves are overpriced, it's fun to go once a while. Students normally save two dollars off the standard ticket price with their I.D.

Museums- A student I.D. can grant you free access into the most underrated places in the city. Museums are great for roaming about hours on end with friends, checking out art and other priceless exhibits. It also makes for a great date location. Look up your local museums and see if any give free admittance to students; some only do it once a week or month.

Theme Parks- I've never taken advantage of this promotion because going to theme parks are extremely expensive. Regardless, the student center always has fliers with coupons for local theme parks.

Health Services- Need condoms? Need cough drops? Need to get tested? Most campuses offer these services completely free of charge. You can even get checked out for a doctor for far less than it would run you to go to a real one (well, if you don't have insurance). I once had an inflamed spider bite and they gave me topical cream for free to help the inflammation. My campus even offers free counseling by licensed psychologists if you are having emotional issues.

Go out there, do a little research and put that student I.D. to good use!