Student Discount Cards In Durham: Worthwhile or Worthless?

Durham Student Discount Cards: Worthwhile or Worthless? | durhamStudent™

If you've been in Durham longer than, well, a day, (make that a nanosecond if you were at the freshers' fair) you're bound to have noticed the plethora of student discount cards in Durham.

Whilst pretty much every café, bar, club and restaurant in Durham seems to have some sort of discount system in place - be it the Juicylicious smoothie bar in the DSU, Caffe Nero or Esquires - but some, as durhamStudent has discovered the hard way, are better value than others. It's worth noting that your Durham University campus card gets you discounts in quite a few places already, such as Topshop (10% off)

NUS Extra

The NUS Extra discount card (www.nusextra.co.uk) costs £10 for a year, with £4 a card going back to Durham Student Union (or whichever student union you select on registering).

Whilst it entitles you to some good discounts, such as 25% off pizza at Domino's Pizza, other discount cards (such as the VCard) give you much the same deals for much less.

Varsity's VCard

The VCard (www.varsitybars.com/vcard) is Varsity's discount card. Costing £2, the VCard gives you 25% discount off selected drinks, and 2 for £5 meal deals, as well as a range of other offers (www.varsitybars.com/offers), including 25% off Domino's pizza and 5% off online orders made at play.com.

4D Card

Debuting in 2007, the 4D Card (www.4dcard.co.uk) is the 'first student discount card dedicated solely to Durham', and is the most costly discount card durhamStudent found, at £20, which needs renewing annually (as does the VCard).

As with every discount card, the 4D Card could offer you some superb discounts (see www.4dcard.co.uk/4deals) - for example, 50% off at some hair, beauty and tanning salons in Durham and regular deals at Brown Sugar.

Other Student Discounts in Durham

A number of businesses, both local and national, offer student discounts in Durham. If in doubt, ask if they offer a discount - you never know, it could save you enough for an extra night out at the end of term!

Loyalty Cards

Caffe Nero - buy 9 hot drinks, get the tenth free.
Juicylicious (the smoothie bar in the DSU) offer a free smoothie for every 10 you buy with their discount card.

Student Discount Cards: Summary

There are plenty to choose from, but if you're genuinely looking to save money, durhamStudent has come to the conclusion that only the VCard is really worth considering - it's affordable and the discounts will quickly pay off the cost of the card if you're a regular visitor, as well as the Young Persons Railcard, which can easily pay for itself in one journey.

Elsewhere on durhamStudent

Elsewhere

www.studentfreestuff.com. Free stuff. For students.

I bought the 4D card at the Freshers Fair - what a complete waste - I bought it because their sales pitch made it sound good, but loads of the offers are just standard student discounts, or even standard discounts! Rip Off! Don't get a 4D card!

Comment made by dave on 25/11/2007 05:11:40.

vcard's ok as long as you go in varsity. the normal campus card/nus card is better value - everyone gets one!

Comment made by englishdude on 25/11/2007 12:11:38.

I got a vcard - quite like it.

Comment made by emma on 25/11/2007 01:11:20.

There seem to be quite a few people around with VCards, but not many people seem to use the NUS card (part of the DU campus card), possibly as most shops will not remind you about the discount at the till!

Comment made by durhamStudent on 26/11/2007 09:11:31.

do they evn do nus extra card anymore?!

Comment made by mildertrawesome on 01/10/2008 05:10:59.

Some of the 4d offers are OK, I certainly covered the cost, but yeah a lot of the offers they advertised last year as exclusive were not - wchih was a bit cheeky! Not a bad card to have tho. Some colleges have a list of great dealz available with the student card/nus card - definately worth checking!!

Comment made by PeterD on 13/10/2008 04:10:12.