New student ID card burning a hole in your pocket?
Put that little piece of plastic to work! Student discounts are one of the perks of postgraduate life, and a (cheap) treat every now & then can make the long days of research a little more fun. So browse our round-up of the best 2024 student discounts below, and get the most from your student status. Because this is an AUT blog, we’ve included lots of the cheap deals and perks unique to AUT students too.
Student discount memberships
Arguably the most low-effort, high-reward way to access student discounts in NZ is to join a student discount scheme.
StudentCard
StudentCard is a local student discount network designed for (and incredibly popular with) NZ students. They have negotiated discounts with dozens of NZ’s big-name retailers as well as smaller local businesses. A card costs $20, but then you can get deals on everything from lunch to fashion to entertainment, as well as bigger-ticket items like furniture and electronics. Check out the full range of discounts – including some at AUT! The selection is enormous, so this membership is great for those who want an all-purpose discount option.
Other student discount memberships
Although StudentCard gives the widest range of local discounts, there are a few other international schemes open to NZ members. UNiDAYS is a fashion & beauty-focused network with heaps of deals available for online shopping, including local retailers. StudentBeans is another online shopping scheme from England with NZ sign-ups available. Big bonus: both are free to join!
There’s also the ISIC (International Student Identity Card), which in addition to verifying your student status around the world, can also unlock discounts. This is a great choice if you’re a frequent traveller, since many of the deals relate to flights, hotels, and tourism adventures.
Food & drink
AUT’s cafes and eateries offer lots of special deals for affordable food & drinks. Refuel (on the city campus) and KaiFe (on the south campus) offer super-cheap $8.50 hot meals from 7:30am – 3pm. You can also get this deal even cheaper with a pre-paid meal plan, which brings the cost down to just $8 per meal. Opening hours and buffet times vary outside of semesters, so check online in advance.
You can also access dozens of dining deals with the StudentCard. It unlocks discounts at Burger Wisconsin, Mexicali, Dominos, Giapo, Revive Cafes, and many more. It’ll also get you $4.50 medium hot drinks at AUT’s own #newsfeed, KaiFe, and Refuel cafes. Cheap coffee FTW!
Health & Wellness
AUT students can access free or low-cost healthcare through the AUT Student Medical Centres, and free mental health support through the Counselling & Mental Health team. There is also a great range of wellness support through Bright Side, including free personal health coaching; plus of course cheap-as-chips gym memberships ($12/week or less!) through the AUT Gyms.
Outside of AUT, if your income while studying is under certain thresholds, you may also qualify for a Community Services Card – which can significantly reduce your healthcare costs.
Essentials & bills
Banking
Most major banks offer some kind of tertiary account package, including ANZ, BNZ, Westpac, the Co-operative Bank, and TSB. The odd ones out are ASB, which doesn’t have a specific tertiary package (though their ‘Streamline‘ account functions similarly), and Kiwibank, which doesn’t do student packages at all. In many cases, tertiary accounts can be transitioned to graduate accounts (with moderate discounts) when you complete your studies.
The specifics and eligibility critieria vary between banks, so do check the fine print. But in general, tertiary accounts often include no (or low) fees, discounted loan rates, occasional freebies, and interest-free overdrafts – although many banks are restricting overdraft offers recently. MoneyHub publishes a handy analysis of all the different student account perks and features to help you compare.
For international students, Westpac offers a student account package that can include a New Zealand account in your home currency.
Phone & internet
Some telcos offer bonus deals with a student ID. At 2degrees, students can get 1GB extra data per weekend on eligible mobile plans. At Spark, it’s a year of 1.5GB monthly bonus data and free calls to Spark mobiles and landlines. Make sure you enquire with them and check whether your plan is eligible to access these deals.
Need a home fibre / broadband plan? if you go via StudentCard, you can get $15 per month off your broadband with Slingshot. Speaking of internet: as a student around town, you will need plenty of free wifi! You can find connections on campus, at all Auckland Libraries, many parts of the Auckland CBD, some other council-run venues such as public transport terminals and art galleries, and some cafes.
Transport
Public transport can be much cheaper with an AT HOP tertiary concession. The process of registering your concession onto your HOP card involves a few steps and an application form, but the concession lasts up to 3 years (as long as you remain eligible). It gives you at least 20% off most bus, train, and ferry travel around Auckland, and traveling off-peak gives you even better discounts. If you use public transport daily, that can add up to major savings.
If you’re driving, you will need to face the challenge of parking on- or near-campus. In Auckland that’s never cheap, but there are ways to make it cheaper than it otherwise would be. City campus: Wilson Parking offers discounted monthly prices for students at many of their city centre carparks. (Unfortunately, the one closest to AUT at 47 Symonds St is among the most expensive at $249/month; but if you don’t mind a little walk, the one at Glenside / 150 Symonds St is only $129/month.) For casual parking, Auckland Transport’s Civic Carpark is often cheaper at $5/hr in peak times; and down to $2/hr (or $12 max) on weekends. North and South campuses: the usual M-F rates drop down slightly if you pay via the UbiPark app. Discounted rates are $1.45 for one hour; up to $6.89 for 5+ hours. Weekends are free!
Biking to the city campus? Secure and charge your bike for free at one of the Locky Dock parks by the Hikuwai Plaza entrance to Te Mātāpuna (the AUT Library) or outside WM building. To lock and unlock your bike, use your AT Hop card or download the Bikeep app.
Entertainment
Movies
RIP to the days of deep student discounts on movie tickets… with Event Cinemas having recently dropped their student category on the Cinebuzz card, we’re now stuck with just ‘standard’ student movie ticket prices (the kind you get with just your student ID card). In the Auckland CBD area, your best prices at mainstream cinemas will be $20 at Event Queen St ($16 with a Cinebuzz card on Tuesdays) or $18 at Rialto Newmarket ($15 with a Cinebuzz card on Tuesdays.)
But by far the cheapest movie tickets around in 2024 are actually not a student discount at all. Academy Cinemas (next to the Auckland City Library) offers… wait for it… $5 tickets on Wednesdays! They also do $14 tickets with student ID every other day of the week. They tend to show arthouse, international, and older films rather than the latest blockbusters; but if that’s what you’re into, then those $5 tickets are an absolute steal.
Streaming
Spotify offers a nearly half-price student rate of $8.99/mo for Spotify Premium, with a free month thrown in as well. This only applies with a student ID and if you’re new to Premium. UNiDAYS members can also score 15% off Disney+ subscriptions.
IRL adventures
Students can have a cheap day of fun at Western Springs. MOTAT (the Museum of Transport and Technology) and the Auckland Zoo are right next to each other, and both offer student discounts. Get $10 MOTAT tickets (usually $19), and passes to the Auckland Zoo from $16.50 (off-peak) for a big day out under $30 total. Bonus: your MOTAT ticket includes a tram ride between the venues.
Closer to the city campus, students can get usually around $4 off the price of special exhibition tickets at the Auckland Art Gallery, and can sometimes get 2-for-1 door sales at The Classic comedy club.
There are also heaps of action & adventure deals with local tourism providers through StudentCard. Highlights include discounted laser tag, sky diving, escape rooms, mini golf, go-karting, and lots more.
Tech
Apple and Microsoft both offer their education pricing to tertiary students, so you can save a chunk of change on that new laptop or tablet. Lenovo and Samsung also have student discount schemes, worth from 5% to sometimes even 50% off their RRP on many devices. If you don’t mind a refurbished or ex-lease device, your StudentCard gets you 15% off at Tech Traders. And for repairs, that same StudentCard can score you 15% off at Advanced Computers.
Need software? Check before you buy! AUT students get Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus for free. That means you don’t need to pay for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneNote or OneDrive for Business. You can also get other software relevant to your study (e.g. EndNote) – log in here to check what is available to you.
If you need to access software from home that you use on AUT computers, check the instructions to access AUT computers remotely. The process takes a little time, but could help avoid an unnecessary software purchase!
Do you know of more student deals not listed here? Add them in the comments!
