Student Advice

NUS Card

Ben Maples  · Jun 26th 2023

One of the greatest perks of being a student is the discount that comes with it and a student NUS Card is the way to go!

NUS logo

From cinema tickets to clothes and holidays, studying for a degree can get you money off almost anything. We suggest taking full advantage of this, and the best way is by purchasing a student NUS card, although this will probably be explained to you in your university interview.

University student NUS Card

What is an NUS card?

An NUS Card is a form of student identification and can be used to find discounts from certain shops or restaurants.

If you are ever applying for a student TV License or need to provide evidence for student council tax exemption, then the NUS Card can often be used for evidence in these cases, they will likely also ask you for your NUS extra card number.

NUS and TOTUM have since stopped offering the NUS alumni card (sometimes referred to as an NUS TOTUM card).

With a 16-25 Railcard, you can save 30% every time you travel

How to get an NUS card

The process for getting an NUS discount card is actually pretty straightforward. You can apply for NUS card through the NUS website and go from there.

The website is easy to fill out and the NUS card application forms are simple enough, not only that, there is a policy in place to help students who need to replace a lost NUS card and also have a list of vendors that will help you find some NUS extra card discounts, which you can find on your NUS card login.

Just fill in the NUS card application form and start racking up those savings!

An NUS Card is a form of student identification and can be used to find discounts from certain shops or restaurants.

How much is an NUS card?

So what is the NUS card price?

An NUS card UK costs £13.

Some assume that paying £13 for a card isn’t necessary when your university provides you with a student ID. This is fine, as long as throughout your entire three years as an undergraduate student you are lucky enough to meet only lenient sales assistants.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for most people, so parting with that £13 may be necessary, especially given how expensive it can be around Russell Group University or University Alliance areas.

Don’t panic, though; we understand the financial situation students are in and how every pound counts so we’d never suggest paying for something that isn’t going to be beneficial, and there are plenty of NUS card discounts available. We’ve broken down the perks of this little piece of plastic into our three favourite categories, food, shopping and travel, but it doesn’t just sop there, there are plenty of other NUS card benefits!

First things first, food! Going out for dinner can be an expensive business and a rare treat for those of us who can barely afford to eat at home let alone in a restaurant. However, for those special occasions, it makes a nice change and is easily affordable with an NUS card extra.

Don’t be embarrassed to ask any shop if they accept student discount; some may not advertise it but still accept it.

Presenting your card when you ask for the bill will automatically wipe 20-25% your entire food order in restaurants such as Prezzo, Frankie & Benny’s, Pizza Express and Zizzi’s. That basically means if four of you go for dinner, you only pay for three to eat; perfect for taking your flatmate out on their birthday or if you're looking to have a night out that isn't too expensive as well!

If you’re the type of person, who needs greasy food after a night out, head to a McDonalds on the way home instead of a kebab house. Those with an NUS card receive a free cheeseburger or McFlurry with every meal; we’re sure your drunk self will not need convincing on this one, and hey, you may even survive a night out at university and that's pretty much half the battle really, isn't it?

Student NUS Card

If you’ve found the cheeseburgers and alcohol have caught up on you around midterm, you may want to think about a healthier lifestyle. Living like a carefree student is fun for a while until you can no longer fit in your 15% off jeans. Those clever people at NUS have thought this through as well and offer a discount on gym memberships. Sign up for free with companies such as ‘The Gym’, and you can pay just £19.99 a month, all you have to do is watch the pounds disappear (and we don’t mean from your bank balance).

When loan day arrives, it’s normal for students to go a little overboard and spend too much, justify this by showing your NUS student card wherever you go. Don’t be embarrassed to ask any shop if they accept student discount; some may not advertise it but still accept it.

You can find a list of places that offer student discounts on the TOTUM website.

Some popular high street stores who offer student discount are Claire’s Accessories, Matalan, New Look, Republic, Topman, Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Mulberry, Fat Face, Blue Inc., Bench and Austin Reed (to name just a few!). These all offer the basic rate of 10-15% off but lookout for special deals when they up the discount to 20%, that way, you'll be looking fresh in your university lectures.

If you tend to shop online, then you will most definitely benefit from parting with £12 at the beginning of the year. Websites require you to enter your unique NUS card number in order to get the discount, but with websites such as ASOS offering timed sales for students of up to 30% off, you’ll make your money back almost straight away. Online shops you can save money with include: Amazon, boohoo.com, ASOS, missselfridge.com, Ticketmaster and missguided.co.uk. Those might be useful for you, if you are feeling homesick at university.

If you’ve moved halfway across the country to go to university, you’ll find that those trips to visit your parents and to see friends will cost you more than you can afford. Train tickets are not cheap, but with a 16-25 Railcard (which is a little different from a free NUS card), you can save 30% every time you travel. What’s more, an NUS card gets you 11% off the initial cost of the Railcard which means you’re saving money even before you’ve begun to save money, who can argue with that?

If you’re yet to be convinced that NUS can save you money, we urge you try and obtain a discount from this list of shops without one. You can see how much more money you can save with your NUS Card, by seeing the shops that will be accepting the NUS Card, here.

After all, we’ve admitted that some shops are very lenient and let you off with a student card. We just don’t want you to skip to the till, arms full of clothes, beaming smile on your face because of your savings to be greeted by shop assistant unwilling to co-operate.

Trust us, full-priced clothes do not feel as good.

If you’re yet to be convinced that NUS can save you money, we urge you try and obtain a discount from this list of shops without one.

If you need to see your savings in black and white, the NUS website also has a handy tool which enables you to input your average monthly and yearly spending and then calculates how much you can save if you spent the same amount but used an NUS card as well as information on any renew NUS card details you may need.

Using this, you can really weigh up your options and decide if buy NUS card or how an NUS Extra Card can be beneficial to you personally.

Where can I use my NUS card?

There are a number of places for you to use your student NUS Card, in fact, it’s too tough to list all of them!

You can find a list of places that offer student discounts on the TOTUM website, which is powered by the NUS and has great a great NUS card discount breakdown for you.

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