Mark is getting ready to graduate from St. Mary’s University, and reality is starting to hit hard. After 4 years of using student software for free, he realized he might lose access to everything once he leaves the comfort of campus life. As a graphic design major, tools like Adobe Creative Cloud and Canva are a big deal. All these platforms are not, frankly cheap. Feeling a little overwhelmed, Mark turned to his sister for advice. She told him to make a list of software he uses and check which ones offer discounts after graduation. He sat down and compiled a list of software he uses. He found out that most of them offered student discounts for graduates just by using his campus email. 

That small action helped him save a bunch of money each month, and sister wants him to pay her commission for setting him up with the deals! 

Lesson? If you are graduating soon, do what Mark did. Make a list and check for student deals. Save yourself some money and then treat yourself to some yummy food or treat your friends and family. 

Saving money, especially during this transition period, is very important because it is a very scary time. Especially, if you want to move out and live on your own. You might need to cut back on your expenses. You will need to figure out what you can save money on.  As you are ready to depart from college life, one big rule is that managing your expenses becomes more crucial than ever. Many software programs and other subscriptions you depend on might be taken away and become more costly.  Nevertheless,  you can get student discounts to save your money. Check out this list of critical software and different services that you should consider getting before graduation. Some software might help you with life skills. 

Graphic Design and Media Creation Tools

• Adobe Creative Cloud- Using student Discounts  $19.99 a month

The Adobe Creative Cloud regular price is $54.99 a month. This is a vital tool for some students who are pursuing many career paths that involve graphic work, editing, and many other applications. With this discount for 1st year, you have access to all the applications like Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. This platform extends the student deal for a year after graduation.  ¹

Why is this essential to you: Different jobs and careers you might encounter, are looking for Adobe knowledge. Using this discount might help you practice and help you grow your portfolio.  If you wish to gain these skills, you could get this software with all the perks. The Adobe platform is growing constantly and adding more tools for its users. They also provide free online training, and user groups.

• Canva Pro- Using student Discounts  $6.49 a month

The Canva Pro regular price is $12.99 a month. Canvas Pro is a very easy tool for designing/creating flyers, posts for Instagram, presentations, and so many different tools for social media creation.  The discount gives you access to the bonus and premium fonts, and templates with designs. 

Why is this essential to you: The services within this platform are endless. Creativity for this platform is wonderful because of the numerous things you can do. You may create resumes, logos, and slideshows. Canva Pro is a great creativity platform that helps to create and share slideshows for many purposes. Other items you might not think associate with Canva include creation of resumes that show off your creativity for a job, or flyers that help your organization or business. Canva Pro is also great because it includes video editing tools and hosting.

Leisure and Entertainment

• Apple Music- Using student discount $5.99

This perk comes with Apple TV included. The Apple Music regular price is $10.99 a month. This is a significant discount because of the access to music and TV that is included. This is best for students or new graduates who have free time or like to study with music. Apple is compatible only with Apple products. This discount is half of the regular price, giving access to 2 different platforms. 

• Hulu- Using student discount, $1.99 a month

The Hulu regular price is $7.99 a month, and this plan comes with ads.  This is a notable discount that is offered. This plan does come with ads, but this does save significantly more per month. This can be also be saved by family and friends just by sharing your account with them. Hulu gives you the complete streaming platform that it offers, but it still has ads included on this plan. ²

• Amazon Prime-  Using student discount, $7.49 a month

The Amazon Prime regular price is $14.99 a month. This is a great discount for students, and Prime gives access to many different things. You get free 2 day shipping and can watch free movies. This saves money because the shipping fees ad up. ³

• Grammarly Pro

This platform can be installed on your devices or in your search bar. It is great to have this software, but it does vary depending on the plan, starting at six dollars and can rise to thirteen dollars month. This helps with grammar, synonyms, and punctuation. 

Why this might be essential to you: Grammarly Pro could be useful to help you find the little errors you might make in your paper or emails before sending them out to many. Grammarly does a great job if you need to find synonyms for your papers and gives you suggestions on how to edit your paper or emails. This helps with the readability of your items, and it’s great to have a second set of eyes reading your paper. Keep in mind some universities and employers may not allow the use of Grammarly because of the Artificial Intelligence components within the software.

This is compatible with a wide range of applications, including Microsoft Office (Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams), web browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge), and many other web apps and desktop applications, as well as mobile devices.

 

• LinkedIn Learning and LinkedIn

LinkedIn Learning is a marvelous platform that helps people gain skills with online classes. This platform has videos that instructors organize into many categories to make it easy to find what you need to learn. LinkedIn Learning works within LinkedIn and using this software does share information about yourself,  if you would like. There are thousands of different courses available. Some universities, like St. Mary’s University make LinkedIn Learning available to graduates for free. Some public libraries also offer it free to library card holders.

LinkedIn itself is a social media tool for professionals. You can create a profile and add a bio, with a resume and the experience you have had.  The access you may have can vary based on the plan you select. You can try the professional version for a month which will tell you who is accessing your profile.

The student discount would be $20 a month. LinkedIn could help you network and develop professional relationships that would assist you in your career. A study was conducted in which the permanence of it was how well LinkedIn helps individuals. The research did note that “this study is unique in that it examined the potential benefits of using LinkedIn as a professional networking tool instead of concentrating on more traditional forms of face-to-face networking.” ⁴

Final thoughts: Building good study habits now:

Graduating from college is thrilling but still overwhelming. As Mark knows, one of the smartest moves you can make is to get intentional with your spending, especially when it comes to software and digital tools. Many services you rely on as a student will either fade or cost significantly more once you graduate. Taking the time to lock in student discounts before walking across the stage, can save you cash and reduce stress.

Here’s a quick recap of smart moves to make before you graduate:

• List all the tools and subscriptions you currently use. Think about every app and platform you rely on. Look at both school and personal usage
• Check each one for available student discounts or post-grad extensions.
• Set calendar reminders for when each discount ends.
• Use tracking apps to avoid getting charged for services you no longer use.