Organization works to save students cash
Student Savings Club grants students discounts
Maria Fedorova
Posted: 11/2/06
SCSU students, faculty and staff members have the opportunity to save money with online Student Savings Club services.

The Student Savings Club helps students, faculty and staff save money at various restaurants and retailers in the St. Cloud area.

The participants do not need to pay any fees to participate.

Vanessa Birkle, chair of Urban Affairs in Student Government Association, said the program has existed at SCSU for several years.

However, some changes occurred to make the Student Savings Club more efficient.

In the past, the program required students to present a special printed card to redeem discounts.

Now, SCSU students, faculty and staff members need to show just their school IDs to benefit from the participating retailer offers.

Another novelty of the 2006-07 academic year is the online availability.

The Student Savings Club services became easier and more accessible to the SCSU community.

The roots of the program go back to 1989 when Patrick Moriarty founded the Student Savings Club.

This is one of the largest and longest-running student discount programs in the United States.

Initially concentrated in the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest, the Student Savings Club serves more than 150 colleges and universities in more than 20 states, with new schools joining each month.

The Web site to access these discounts is www.studentsavingsclub.com.

The Web site also includes a job search, yellow pages and information about used textbooks. There is a DVD and video game exchage available on the site.

The Student Government Association sponsors the Student Savings Club at SCSU.

"We are representatives of the student body," said Birkle about the reasons for offering the program. "Making discounts through us makes sense."

Lisa Dean of the Student Savings Club noted in a news release that students and their families can hardly handle all the expenses of college.

"This program makes things a little easier by helping students to save money at some of their favorite places," she said.

Kayla Zenzen, an SCSU junior, said she liked the idea of the Student Savings Club.

"You can go out with your friends for pizza." she said, "As a college student, you are always tied with money."

Some of the local retailers include Papa John's Pizza, China Star, Malibu Tan, Bo Diddley's Pub & Deli, St. Cloud Floral, JM Speedstop and Electric Fetus.

The entire list of retailers is available on the official Web site.

Businesses are encouraged to give discounts because they are offered free advertising on campus.

Birkle said they are working on adding more businesses to the list.

She emphasized students, faculty and staff members can contact her and suggest the businesses they would like to see in the Student Savings Club at sga-ua@stcloudstate.edu.

Zenzen said she thinks the Student Savings Club needs to add some places where students, faculty and staff members can get supplies,like notebooks, for example.

Birkle started to promote the services via Facebook, she said.

Birkle also said she is planning to distribute flyers and send e-mails so more students, faculty and staff become familiar with the service.

Birkle could not name the exact amount of money the participants can save through the Student Savings Club. However, she gave the example of Buffalo Wild Wings, where participants get five free wings with the purchase of 12.

Birkle also mentioned three cents per gallon of gas savings at JM Speedstop.

In general, Birkle said the amount of savings depends on the particular business.