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10 November 2021

Saving your money as a uni student: are you aware of these discount and reward schemes?

Last week our Money Matters investigators Izzy Holt, Amber Leach and Jasmine Lo covered how you can save money on your energy bill. Here, in part two of our ‘Saving your money as a uni student’ article series, Amber and the team explore just some of the ways you can claim rewards and make your money go further in different contexts.

Take a look at the various discount and reward programs below – which include offers available exclusively to students – to see if they could help you save some cash or nab other goodies!


By Amber Leach

Did you know you can save hundreds of dollars by virtue of your student status? There’s lots of various rewards and savings programs available when you know where to look!

Explore Student Edge

Student Edge is a website offering discounts, competitions, surveys, and forums to secondary and tertiary students. You can access all the features below by joining online for free.

Along with these money-saving features, Student Edge offers a range of news and forum areas where you can chat and discuss all things about studying and student life. Your profile can also be used to store your CV details and hunt for jobs.

Some Student Edge prizes are sent in the mail, so make sure the address in your profile stays up to date!

Join your Student Association

The Deakin University Student Association (DUSA) offers different levels of membership to all students and staff, with bronze, silver, gold and associate options. All these membership levels have an annual joining fee ranging from an affordable $15–$55, and each provide you different rewards for joining.

DUSA exists to advocate for all students at Deakin and to provide you a fun and productive university experience. As a member, you can receive discounts when joining Deakin social clubs, certain university events and activities, short courses, and receive discounts at local retailers and chains. It is also worth keeping an eye on the DUSA Instagram and Facebook social channels as they sometimes announce events and competitions here. 

Shop smarter

When doing your shopping, Coles’ Flybuys and Woolworths’ Everyday Rewards cards allow you to earn points every time scan your relevant card during a transaction. You can see the points you have earned on your receipt, app or online.

When accessing the app or website, you can use the points you’ve earned by opting to either claim rewards or save money off your next shop. The apps regularly feature offers you can claim to receive extra points towards your tally. They sometimes run offers where you can receive up to double or triple the points on your next shop – these offers are particularly useful when doing a larger shop.

Other organisations also offer similar rewards cards which are free to join and convert the money you spend into points or discounts. Cotton On group, Spotlight, Priceline and many more popular retail chains offer comparable programs.

While the points and discounts offered in these programs may seem small, you’d be surprised how quickly they can add up if you shop frequently. Make sure you also keep an eye on the social media profiles of your favourite retail groups to enter in any competitions and catch a great deal! 

Claim government concessions

For those of you who hold concession cards, remember to use them to your advantage.

Happy saving!

Remember it’s important to do your own research to find out what savings and rewards programs are right for you. Go ahead and share this (plus any of your own handy savings tips) with a friend! 

Next up in our ‘Saving your money as a uni student’ series, our Deakin Money Matters team will review their top three online tools that can save you money on various goods. See you again soon!

Our thanks to the Office of the Dean of Students for supporting the Deakin Money Matters project team to create these resources.



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