The summer before I started college, I remember being super concerned about the prices of textbooks. One of my friends told me about Slugbooks and I started experimenting with that, but I was still leery of shipping prices. Then I discovered Amazon Prime Student.
I had ordered things from Amazon before but had never tried Amazon Prime. I knew that it had free 2-day shipping and that sounded kinda nice, but I didn’t know if there would be any other benefits to it.
But once I found out about Amazon Prime Student, I knew I had to give it a try! I signed up for a trial, fell in love, and never looked back. In fact, it’s been 5 years since I signed up for my free trial for Amazon Prime Student and I’m still loving Prime to this day!
Amazon Prime Student is a must-have for college students. So, if you’re in college or will be this fall, I highly recommend it. I genuinely think this service will benefit your life for several reasons.
5 Reasons Why You Need Amazon Prime Student
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1. Free Shipping
Just like normal Amazon Prime, Amazon Prime Student offers free 2-day shipping.
In fact, I think they’re moving towards 1-day shipping. There have been several times this summer that I’ve ordered something on Amazon and received it within 24 hours. What a world we live in!
This free shipping is awesome, especially if you’re in college.
For one, when you’re having to spend lots of money on tuition and textbooks and food, you want to save money in every way you can. Those few bucks you’re saving on shipping really add up over time!
For two, not having to pay for shipping justifies shopping online. Sometimes it’s just easier shopping online than it is in-store.
Additionally, the 2-day (or 1-day) shipping can really come in handy! As I mentioned in my how to save money on textbooks post, sometimes I would forget to order textbooks until right before the semester started. Other textbook companies would take up to a week to send me my books. With Amazon Prime Student, I knew I could trust that my textbooks would arrive in time for the first day of class.
2. Prime Video / Amazon Music / Free photo space
These are general benefits to Amazon Prime that you also receive when you sign up for Amazon Prime Student.
I didn’t start using Amazon Prime Video until I graduated from college. I had heard about it, but I just wasn’t interested. After all, my family had a Netflix account I could use.
However, I wish I had looked into it sooner!
Amazon Prime Video is very similar to Netflix, not gonna lie. But there are different TV shows and available through Prime Video. For example, the shows Monk and Psych are available on Prime Video whereas they aren’t on Netflix.
Also, if my family didn’t have Netflix, I could have used Prime Video during college to watch TV shows and movies without having to pay anything!
Amazon Prime Music is an app you can download on your phone and it’s also has a website version available. It’s very similar to Pandora or Spotify, but there aren’t adds! Sweet!
So, if you’d like add-free music without having to pay extra on a different service, Amazon Prime has got you covered!
You can set up your own playlists in the app or listen to pre-made ones. They also have “stations” of music you can listen to. So I can listen to a “praise and worship” station or go more specific and listen to an “Elevation Worship” station to hear songs by that band and similar bands.
I haven’t used the free photo storage service that Amazon Prime provides because I use Google Photos, but it’s nice knowing there’s that option! :)
3. College deals and exclusive promotions
From time to time, Amazon Prime Student offers exclusive deals and promotions for college students that you can’t access without the service.
For example, if you like playing video games, you can get 20% off pre-order and new release video games.
Additionally, there are other deals and specials offered to college students that you can find on Amazon.
4. 6-month free trial
Yup, that’s one of the perks to Amazon Prime Student- you can sign up and get a free SIX MONTH free trial. I haven’t ever heard of a free trial that lasts that long!
Sneaky hack for you: Sign up for Prime Student today and then order your textbooks for the fall from Amazon and use the free shipping. (Check Slugbooks first to make sure there aren’t better prices elsewhere. Also, you can rent from Amazon and get prime shipping sometimes. Look for that too!)
Then in December, order your textbooks for the spring semester and use the free shipping then too.
Once you sign up for Prime Student, set a reminder in your phone for six months from now so you’ll remember to cancel your account. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll fall in love with it during those six months and decide to keep it ;)
5. Keep it after the 6 months for 50% off the normal Amazon Prime price
Yup, even more savings!
So if you end up loving Amazon Prime Student during your free trial, you can keep it and pay significantly less than if you had signed up for Amazon Prime instead.
The monthly price of Amazon Prime Student is $6.49. That’s less than a meal at Chick-fil-A!
In conclusion, Amazon Prime Student is something that every college student should have.
It saves you money on shipping, plus you get your items super-fast. You have access to free TV shows and movies, free music, and free photo storage. And you can access special deals and promotions that are just for college students.
You can try it out to see if you like it with a free six-month trial- during which time you can save money on shipping for a year’s worth of textbooks. If you don’t end up loving it, you can cancel anytime. But, if you love it, you can keep it and save significantly.
So what are you waiting for?!
Sign up for your free trial today!
Leave a comment and let me know if you’ve tried Amazon Prime Student before or if it’s something you’ve never heard of. :)
