“What’s the point in asking for a student discount? It only saves you a couple cents or dollars.” I always ask my friends. The two responses I get the most, “It adds up”, and “That Dollar can go towards something else”
Hi, My name is Felix, an IT Security student at Oklahoma State University, and with the help of my friend Cristiano Jorge, StudentPay was founded.
The is a fact. Majority of college students are broke, and we love to save money. Who doesn’t? . While building StudentPay, I had no cash with me after paying all my bills, and had to borrow money from my friend to pay for the domain name, server and other costs. Many college students can attest to this. This is why many students end up paying for discount cards e.g. student advantage card (I believe this is terrible), constantly search for deals, coupons or discount codes, sign up on various retail sites, carry or send verification documents to retailers, and sometimes beg companies for student discounts mostly through social media. ( A quick search on twitter for “student discount” confirms this. )
Big, small, and medium businesses ranging from fast food restaurants and clothing stores, to insurance companies, are constantly offering student discounts for various reasons, ranging from driving sales, marketing campaigns and promotions, to social responsibility.
However, the process of offering and receiving such discounts is quite strenuous for both parties, as companies tend to request for verification documents, pay to verify students, issue discount codes for students, print coupons or limit discounts to instore locations, amongst a few flaws.
StudentPay eliminates all of the above issues, both for students and for merchants.
So what is StudentPay about? Basically, we makes it effortless for any person or business to offer student discounts on their website or app, and enable students automatically receive these discounts when they checkout.
StudentPay is a payment processor which offers automated student discounts, to students paying for goods and services online, without leaving the retailers app/website, using coupons, or searching for deals or discount codes to redeem offered discounts. On the retailers/merchants end, they are assured that discounts are offered to only enrolled students of their choice.
How Does It Work? Simple 3 Steps.
- Student signs up on StudentPay (Verification is instant)
- Student Links funding source (Debit/Credit Card/Bank account
- Student checks-out or pays on any merchants site/app using their email address, and automatically receives a student discount set by the retailer.
How Does A Merchant Offer Student Discount? Simple
Just add a StudentPay button to your payment options, whenever you want to offer student discount, and you’re good to go.
Merchants offering student discounts, need not worry about verification or abuse, e.g. withdrawn students, or fraudulent use. We partnered with the National Student Clearing House and have access to data for 21.3 million college students currently enrolled in United States.
Merchants can also set preferences such as:
- Eligible students e.g. a retailer offering discounts to only students of his alma mater, a merchant offering discounts to only students in a particular city, or default to every college student.
- Discount percentage The amount discounted for students, 15%, 20% etc.
- Discount Availability e.g. Discounts may be available only during a marketing campaign/promotion, or certain days, e.g. student night, or permanently etc.
StudentPay also offers Merchants :
- Free advertising and promotions to their target student audience
- Analytics
- Free Monthly Reports which include trends and market analysis for the merchants target audience, and more.
The question is how can a merchant loose? You’re basically doing a social good and we’re rewarding you for doing such, by driving up your sales, with free marketing to a highly coveted demographic.
There are 21 Million plus college students in the United States alone, and about 170 Million worldwide, and majority of us are anxious to save money. StudentPay is the simple and best solution.
You can signup for early access at studentpay.co, and Join our mission to make life more affordable for college students.
You can reach me at felix@studentpay.co
