How to Get Student Discounts Forever
Holiday discounts be damned, nothing saves you money like an old fashioned student discount. Here's how to continue making use of those discounts long after your time as a student has passed.
Before we get started, let's considere the ethical implications. Using a student discount when you're not a student is a little dishonest, so if you're a sparkling example of morality you might want to forget this method and keep paying full price. If you live life in the more common moral gray area, you might want to consider the following excuses. First of all, student discounts are most commonly awarded to college students who either are wealthy enough to afford college or are able to incur a massive amount of debt (scholarship folk—congrats, but you're a rare breed and therefore do not count). The idea here is that college students aren't necessarily stricken with poverty or will be more so after finishing their education. For that reason, the student discount might actually be better applied after a student has graduated. If you agree with this reasoning, welcome to the forever student discount club.
The Sticker Method
Some colleges update their student ID cards every year with a date as proof of current enrollment, but that's an added and unnecessary expense for most. Some just don't bother with dates at all, but a more common compromise is the sticker. Many colleges will provide a dated sticker each semester so students can prove they're up-to-date on their tuition and prove enrollment to companies offering discounts. Fortunately, these stickers are incredibly easy to forge after you've graduated.
If you just need a digital photo of your ID (for online shopping), Photoshopping a forgery is pretty simple. The example above is just a simple Photoshop forgery. If you need the actual ID card in all its physical glory (for in-store shopping), you can easily take your Photoshop forgery and recreate it with a regular inkjet printer and some sticker paper. You can get sticker paper in all colors and finishes at your local office store, and if you find it's too hard to recreate a sticker you can just remove the existing stickers to make your own version.
What if my ID has no sticker?
Maybe your student ID doesn't use a sticker at all. If this is the case, you're actually in a better situation because you can design your own. The important thing is to make a few fake stickers so it looks like you've been using them for awhile. Put one on, rub some dirt on it, wipe the dirt off with water, add the next sticker, do the same, and then put the clean one on top. Make it look used, and whatever sticker you design with be as believable as a real one.
The Unofficial Class Schedule
Some retailers require a class schedule or other proof of enrollment, or there may be situations where you just can't or don't want to use your student ID as proof. In those cases, it's incredibly easy to fake a class schedule. The best way to go about this is keep a copy of your class schedule when you're actually in college so you can refer to it when making the forgery. Most times it's nothing more than a text document and a college logo in the background (which is something you can easily acquire via Google image search). If you're sending the schedule via email and it needs to come from your school, it's pretty easy to spoof an outgoing email address. Overall this is a pretty simple undertaking, but, in general, you'll be fine with just an ID card.
Enlist the Youth of Tomorrow
Just like underage kids try to get older folks to buy them beer, you can enlist the help of college kids to get you a student discount. If you haven't made a little student of your own yet, or have relatives who can help you for free, you can often find students on Craiglist who are willing to loan out their student ID for a small fee. For $20 (give or take), you can get a college kid to accompany you to, say, the Apple Store, to pick up a new laptop. If you can't find such a posting, post yourself. Chances are you at least know a friend of a friend who knows someone in college, so if you ask nicely you should be able to get this service for free. Unlike the other suggestions, this tip will work for the rest of your discount-necessitating life.
Go Legit On the Cheap
If you feel bad about getting a student discount long after your time has passed, maybe it's time to become a student again. You don't have to go back for a degree, but local community colleges offer a lot of night classes you can take. If you have time, it's a chance to learn something you've always wanted to learn and you will—in most cases—wind up with a student ID. When you go to get a student discount you won't have to cheat the system because you're technically a student, even if it's not a full-time gig.
Got any other tips to prolong the life of your expired student ID card? Let's hear 'em in the comments!
Send an email to Adam Dachis, the author of this post, at adachis@lifehacker.com.
This guest post is by Roman from how this website makes money.
Two years ago I stumbled across the concept of blogging for money. Instantly it hit me as the perfect thing: sit behind a computer, design a site, write, be my own boss, work from home, what could be better? I knew nothing about traffic, SEO, backlinks, Pagerank, or keywords. I knew nothing about how to make money with a website. So what did I do next? I registered the domain name howthiswebsitemakesmoney.
Looking back all I can do is laugh at my arrogance. Like thousands before me and thousands who will come after me, my first attempt at blogging was a site about making money online.
Two years later, I know how to start a site, I know how to write content, I know about SEO, I know about backlinks, I know how to add advertisements … but I still do not know how to make good money online. The site makes dimes a day, not dollars.
The site has been two years of disappointment. Two years of waking up in the morning and seeing the same green egg in AdSense. Two years of waiting for a four-digit affiliate check with my name on it. Two years of working without pay. Two years of scratching my head.
So I asked for advice, and every time the reply was the same: create a site about something else. Create a site about what you know and what you enjoy. Do not create a site with the intent to make money, create a site with the intent to help people by doing something you enjoy doing.
What happened when I changed my intent
Six months ago I created a new site. This time my intent was pure pleasure.
I live in Prague and I love it here. So I made a little site about how great Prague is and what people should do when they come for a visit. It was built in a month. In a gust of activity I designed the site and wrote the content.
It was so easy. I did not agonize over what to write about. The content flowed effortlessly from my head to the keyboard. I did not have to take long walks with the dog or waste water standing dazed in the shower coming up with new ideas. I just sat down at the computer and wrote about what I know. It was so easy I actually looked forward to it.
As an afterthought, I created a simple page where people can order a real postcard from Prague. Visitors select a picture of Prague and fill out a form indicating what they want written on the postcard. After they hit the Submit button I get the request by email. I grab a postcard and, like an ancient scribe long before computers, lick the tip of the pen and write. After pounding a Prague stamp on the postcard I toss it into the mailbox on my way to work. I charge $4.00 for this five minutes of work.
I created this site with no aspirations of becoming rich, no day dreams of shaking hands with Oprah, no imagined scenes of telling my employer to find some other donkey to kick around. I created the website because it was easy for me to do and I enjoyed it. I made it because I needed a break from my ‘real’ website. I expected nothing to happen.
Again, I was wrong.
My hand is ink blue from all the postcards I have written.
I wrote a postcard from a son playing a trick on his mother: “Hi, Mom! Sorry for not calling in last few days. But I am in Prague with friends. Having a great time and the beer is sooo cheap. Say hi to Dad.”
I have written postcards to countries all over the world. Some of them in languages other then English—I have no idea what I am writing. Fortunately, the order form does not allow Chinese characters!
I get emails from people thanking me for the information they found on the site, thanking me for the postcard, asking for more information.
I feel like I am making the world a better place. I made a website about something I know about and am interested in and people are thanking me. Emotionally it is a soft, warm, fuzzy ball.
And yes, I am making money.
Intend to enjoy and you might make money
I learned a lot about making money online not from my site about making money, but from licking postage stamps.
New arrivals to the make-money-online scene go through the same initiation—they start out with the intent to make money, then fail to make more then a pile of pennies. For some it means the end and they quit, but for others this brutal introduction teaches them that their intent needs to change.
Of course, making money is about traffic, clicks, affiliates, backlinks SEO, but it’s also about finding something you enjoy doing. If your intent is only to make money the odds are stacked against you: you will probably quit. But if your intent is to do something you enjoy then you will keep moving forward until one day, you will be surprised to find that you are making money.
What’s your intent?
Roman intends to figure out how this website makes money. He has been trying to do that for two long years, so when he needs a break and do something fun he goes onto his other website to send a real postcard to his mother who misses him very much.
bench craft company rip off
Breaking <b>News</b>: Watch A Gigantic Looping Solar Prominence
The Solar Dynamics Observatory never fails to deliver absolutely stunning images from the Sun: as of 18:49 UT today, the above picture is what the Sun looked like in the ultraviolet spectrum. The prominence that you are seeing looping ...
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
Domain Name Wire » <b>News</b> » Why Twitter Singled Out TwitterSearch <b>...</b>
Owner tried to "extort" Twitter. As Robin Wauters wrote today, Twitter has filed a UDRP against the owner of TwitterSearch.com. With so many domain names out there including "twitter" in them, why has the company singled out this one?
bench craft company rip off
Breaking <b>News</b>: Watch A Gigantic Looping Solar Prominence
The Solar Dynamics Observatory never fails to deliver absolutely stunning images from the Sun: as of 18:49 UT today, the above picture is what the Sun looked like in the ultraviolet spectrum. The prominence that you are seeing looping ...
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
Domain Name Wire » <b>News</b> » Why Twitter Singled Out TwitterSearch <b>...</b>
Owner tried to "extort" Twitter. As Robin Wauters wrote today, Twitter has filed a UDRP against the owner of TwitterSearch.com. With so many domain names out there including "twitter" in them, why has the company singled out this one?
bench craft company rip off
Breaking <b>News</b>: Watch A Gigantic Looping Solar Prominence
The Solar Dynamics Observatory never fails to deliver absolutely stunning images from the Sun: as of 18:49 UT today, the above picture is what the Sun looked like in the ultraviolet spectrum. The prominence that you are seeing looping ...
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
Domain Name Wire » <b>News</b> » Why Twitter Singled Out TwitterSearch <b>...</b>
Owner tried to "extort" Twitter. As Robin Wauters wrote today, Twitter has filed a UDRP against the owner of TwitterSearch.com. With so many domain names out there including "twitter" in them, why has the company singled out this one?
bench craft company rip off
Rompiendo <b> Noticias </ b>: Añada un gigantesco bucle Solar ProminenceThe Observatorio de Dinámica Solar nunca deja de ofrecer imágenes absolutamente impresionante desde el Sol: de 18:49 UT hoy en día, la imagen de arriba es lo que el Sol parecía en el espectro ultravioleta. La importancia que está viendo en bucle ...
La luz se puede generar el Levante - Ciencia <b> Noticias </ b> Los investigadores crear un lightfoil que introduzca objetos pequeños hacia los lados.
Nombres de Dominio de alambre »<b> Noticias </ b>» ¿Por qué Twitter Singled Out TwitterSearch <b> ...</ b> Propietario intentado "extorsionar" Twitter. Como Robin Wauters escribió hoy, Twitter se ha presentado una Política Uniforme contra el propietario de TwitterSearch.com. Con los nombres de dominio para muchos por ahí como "twitter" en ellos, ¿por qué la empresa ha señalado esta?
bench craft company rip off
Breaking <b>News</b>: Watch A Gigantic Looping Solar Prominence
The Solar Dynamics Observatory never fails to deliver absolutely stunning images from the Sun: as of 18:49 UT today, the above picture is what the Sun looked like in the ultraviolet spectrum. The prominence that you are seeing looping ...
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
Domain Name Wire » <b>News</b> » Why Twitter Singled Out TwitterSearch <b>...</b>
Owner tried to "extort" Twitter. As Robin Wauters wrote today, Twitter has filed a UDRP against the owner of TwitterSearch.com. With so many domain names out there including "twitter" in them, why has the company singled out this one?
bench craft company rip off
How to Get Student Discounts Forever
Holiday discounts be damned, nothing saves you money like an old fashioned student discount. Here's how to continue making use of those discounts long after your time as a student has passed.
Before we get started, let's considere the ethical implications. Using a student discount when you're not a student is a little dishonest, so if you're a sparkling example of morality you might want to forget this method and keep paying full price. If you live life in the more common moral gray area, you might want to consider the following excuses. First of all, student discounts are most commonly awarded to college students who either are wealthy enough to afford college or are able to incur a massive amount of debt (scholarship folk—congrats, but you're a rare breed and therefore do not count). The idea here is that college students aren't necessarily stricken with poverty or will be more so after finishing their education. For that reason, the student discount might actually be better applied after a student has graduated. If you agree with this reasoning, welcome to the forever student discount club.
The Sticker Method
Some colleges update their student ID cards every year with a date as proof of current enrollment, but that's an added and unnecessary expense for most. Some just don't bother with dates at all, but a more common compromise is the sticker. Many colleges will provide a dated sticker each semester so students can prove they're up-to-date on their tuition and prove enrollment to companies offering discounts. Fortunately, these stickers are incredibly easy to forge after you've graduated.
If you just need a digital photo of your ID (for online shopping), Photoshopping a forgery is pretty simple. The example above is just a simple Photoshop forgery. If you need the actual ID card in all its physical glory (for in-store shopping), you can easily take your Photoshop forgery and recreate it with a regular inkjet printer and some sticker paper. You can get sticker paper in all colors and finishes at your local office store, and if you find it's too hard to recreate a sticker you can just remove the existing stickers to make your own version.
What if my ID has no sticker?
Maybe your student ID doesn't use a sticker at all. If this is the case, you're actually in a better situation because you can design your own. The important thing is to make a few fake stickers so it looks like you've been using them for awhile. Put one on, rub some dirt on it, wipe the dirt off with water, add the next sticker, do the same, and then put the clean one on top. Make it look used, and whatever sticker you design with be as believable as a real one.
The Unofficial Class Schedule
Some retailers require a class schedule or other proof of enrollment, or there may be situations where you just can't or don't want to use your student ID as proof. In those cases, it's incredibly easy to fake a class schedule. The best way to go about this is keep a copy of your class schedule when you're actually in college so you can refer to it when making the forgery. Most times it's nothing more than a text document and a college logo in the background (which is something you can easily acquire via Google image search). If you're sending the schedule via email and it needs to come from your school, it's pretty easy to spoof an outgoing email address. Overall this is a pretty simple undertaking, but, in general, you'll be fine with just an ID card.
Enlist the Youth of Tomorrow
Just like underage kids try to get older folks to buy them beer, you can enlist the help of college kids to get you a student discount. If you haven't made a little student of your own yet, or have relatives who can help you for free, you can often find students on Craiglist who are willing to loan out their student ID for a small fee. For $20 (give or take), you can get a college kid to accompany you to, say, the Apple Store, to pick up a new laptop. If you can't find such a posting, post yourself. Chances are you at least know a friend of a friend who knows someone in college, so if you ask nicely you should be able to get this service for free. Unlike the other suggestions, this tip will work for the rest of your discount-necessitating life.
Go Legit On the Cheap
If you feel bad about getting a student discount long after your time has passed, maybe it's time to become a student again. You don't have to go back for a degree, but local community colleges offer a lot of night classes you can take. If you have time, it's a chance to learn something you've always wanted to learn and you will—in most cases—wind up with a student ID. When you go to get a student discount you won't have to cheat the system because you're technically a student, even if it's not a full-time gig.
Got any other tips to prolong the life of your expired student ID card? Let's hear 'em in the comments!
Send an email to Adam Dachis, the author of this post, at adachis@lifehacker.com.
This guest post is by Roman from how this website makes money.
Two years ago I stumbled across the concept of blogging for money. Instantly it hit me as the perfect thing: sit behind a computer, design a site, write, be my own boss, work from home, what could be better? I knew nothing about traffic, SEO, backlinks, Pagerank, or keywords. I knew nothing about how to make money with a website. So what did I do next? I registered the domain name howthiswebsitemakesmoney.
Looking back all I can do is laugh at my arrogance. Like thousands before me and thousands who will come after me, my first attempt at blogging was a site about making money online.
Two years later, I know how to start a site, I know how to write content, I know about SEO, I know about backlinks, I know how to add advertisements … but I still do not know how to make good money online. The site makes dimes a day, not dollars.
The site has been two years of disappointment. Two years of waking up in the morning and seeing the same green egg in AdSense. Two years of waiting for a four-digit affiliate check with my name on it. Two years of working without pay. Two years of scratching my head.
So I asked for advice, and every time the reply was the same: create a site about something else. Create a site about what you know and what you enjoy. Do not create a site with the intent to make money, create a site with the intent to help people by doing something you enjoy doing.
What happened when I changed my intent
Six months ago I created a new site. This time my intent was pure pleasure.
I live in Prague and I love it here. So I made a little site about how great Prague is and what people should do when they come for a visit. It was built in a month. In a gust of activity I designed the site and wrote the content.
It was so easy. I did not agonize over what to write about. The content flowed effortlessly from my head to the keyboard. I did not have to take long walks with the dog or waste water standing dazed in the shower coming up with new ideas. I just sat down at the computer and wrote about what I know. It was so easy I actually looked forward to it.
As an afterthought, I created a simple page where people can order a real postcard from Prague. Visitors select a picture of Prague and fill out a form indicating what they want written on the postcard. After they hit the Submit button I get the request by email. I grab a postcard and, like an ancient scribe long before computers, lick the tip of the pen and write. After pounding a Prague stamp on the postcard I toss it into the mailbox on my way to work. I charge $4.00 for this five minutes of work.
I created this site with no aspirations of becoming rich, no day dreams of shaking hands with Oprah, no imagined scenes of telling my employer to find some other donkey to kick around. I created the website because it was easy for me to do and I enjoyed it. I made it because I needed a break from my ‘real’ website. I expected nothing to happen.
Again, I was wrong.
My hand is ink blue from all the postcards I have written.
I wrote a postcard from a son playing a trick on his mother: “Hi, Mom! Sorry for not calling in last few days. But I am in Prague with friends. Having a great time and the beer is sooo cheap. Say hi to Dad.”
I have written postcards to countries all over the world. Some of them in languages other then English—I have no idea what I am writing. Fortunately, the order form does not allow Chinese characters!
I get emails from people thanking me for the information they found on the site, thanking me for the postcard, asking for more information.
I feel like I am making the world a better place. I made a website about something I know about and am interested in and people are thanking me. Emotionally it is a soft, warm, fuzzy ball.
And yes, I am making money.
Intend to enjoy and you might make money
I learned a lot about making money online not from my site about making money, but from licking postage stamps.
New arrivals to the make-money-online scene go through the same initiation—they start out with the intent to make money, then fail to make more then a pile of pennies. For some it means the end and they quit, but for others this brutal introduction teaches them that their intent needs to change.
Of course, making money is about traffic, clicks, affiliates, backlinks SEO, but it’s also about finding something you enjoy doing. If your intent is only to make money the odds are stacked against you: you will probably quit. But if your intent is to do something you enjoy then you will keep moving forward until one day, you will be surprised to find that you are making money.
What’s your intent?
Roman intends to figure out how this website makes money. He has been trying to do that for two long years, so when he needs a break and do something fun he goes onto his other website to send a real postcard to his mother who misses him very much.
bench craft company rip off
Breaking <b>News</b>: Watch A Gigantic Looping Solar Prominence
The Solar Dynamics Observatory never fails to deliver absolutely stunning images from the Sun: as of 18:49 UT today, the above picture is what the Sun looked like in the ultraviolet spectrum. The prominence that you are seeing looping ...
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
Domain Name Wire » <b>News</b> » Why Twitter Singled Out TwitterSearch <b>...</b>
Owner tried to "extort" Twitter. As Robin Wauters wrote today, Twitter has filed a UDRP against the owner of TwitterSearch.com. With so many domain names out there including "twitter" in them, why has the company singled out this one?
bench craft company rip off
Breaking <b>News</b>: Watch A Gigantic Looping Solar Prominence
The Solar Dynamics Observatory never fails to deliver absolutely stunning images from the Sun: as of 18:49 UT today, the above picture is what the Sun looked like in the ultraviolet spectrum. The prominence that you are seeing looping ...
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
Domain Name Wire » <b>News</b> » Why Twitter Singled Out TwitterSearch <b>...</b>
Owner tried to "extort" Twitter. As Robin Wauters wrote today, Twitter has filed a UDRP against the owner of TwitterSearch.com. With so many domain names out there including "twitter" in them, why has the company singled out this one?
bench craft company rip off
Breaking <b>News</b>: Watch A Gigantic Looping Solar Prominence
The Solar Dynamics Observatory never fails to deliver absolutely stunning images from the Sun: as of 18:49 UT today, the above picture is what the Sun looked like in the ultraviolet spectrum. The prominence that you are seeing looping ...
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
Domain Name Wire » <b>News</b> » Why Twitter Singled Out TwitterSearch <b>...</b>
Owner tried to "extort" Twitter. As Robin Wauters wrote today, Twitter has filed a UDRP against the owner of TwitterSearch.com. With so many domain names out there including "twitter" in them, why has the company singled out this one?
bench craft company rip off
Breaking <b>News</b>: Watch A Gigantic Looping Solar Prominence
The Solar Dynamics Observatory never fails to deliver absolutely stunning images from the Sun: as of 18:49 UT today, the above picture is what the Sun looked like in the ultraviolet spectrum. The prominence that you are seeing looping ...
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
Domain Name Wire » <b>News</b> » Why Twitter Singled Out TwitterSearch <b>...</b>
Owner tried to "extort" Twitter. As Robin Wauters wrote today, Twitter has filed a UDRP against the owner of TwitterSearch.com. With so many domain names out there including "twitter" in them, why has the company singled out this one?
bench craft company rip off
Breaking <b>News</b>: Watch A Gigantic Looping Solar Prominence
The Solar Dynamics Observatory never fails to deliver absolutely stunning images from the Sun: as of 18:49 UT today, the above picture is what the Sun looked like in the ultraviolet spectrum. The prominence that you are seeing looping ...
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
Domain Name Wire » <b>News</b> » Why Twitter Singled Out TwitterSearch <b>...</b>
Owner tried to "extort" Twitter. As Robin Wauters wrote today, Twitter has filed a UDRP against the owner of TwitterSearch.com. With so many domain names out there including "twitter" in them, why has the company singled out this one?
bench craft company rip off
Breaking <b>News</b>: Watch A Gigantic Looping Solar Prominence
The Solar Dynamics Observatory never fails to deliver absolutely stunning images from the Sun: as of 18:49 UT today, the above picture is what the Sun looked like in the ultraviolet spectrum. The prominence that you are seeing looping ...
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
Domain Name Wire » <b>News</b> » Why Twitter Singled Out TwitterSearch <b>...</b>
Owner tried to "extort" Twitter. As Robin Wauters wrote today, Twitter has filed a UDRP against the owner of TwitterSearch.com. With so many domain names out there including "twitter" in them, why has the company singled out this one?
bench craft company rip off
How to Get Student Discounts Forever
Holiday discounts be damned, nothing saves you money like an old fashioned student discount. Here's how to continue making use of those discounts long after your time as a student has passed.
Before we get started, let's considere the ethical implications. Using a student discount when you're not a student is a little dishonest, so if you're a sparkling example of morality you might want to forget this method and keep paying full price. If you live life in the more common moral gray area, you might want to consider the following excuses. First of all, student discounts are most commonly awarded to college students who either are wealthy enough to afford college or are able to incur a massive amount of debt (scholarship folk—congrats, but you're a rare breed and therefore do not count). The idea here is that college students aren't necessarily stricken with poverty or will be more so after finishing their education. For that reason, the student discount might actually be better applied after a student has graduated. If you agree with this reasoning, welcome to the forever student discount club.
The Sticker Method
Some colleges update their student ID cards every year with a date as proof of current enrollment, but that's an added and unnecessary expense for most. Some just don't bother with dates at all, but a more common compromise is the sticker. Many colleges will provide a dated sticker each semester so students can prove they're up-to-date on their tuition and prove enrollment to companies offering discounts. Fortunately, these stickers are incredibly easy to forge after you've graduated.
If you just need a digital photo of your ID (for online shopping), Photoshopping a forgery is pretty simple. The example above is just a simple Photoshop forgery. If you need the actual ID card in all its physical glory (for in-store shopping), you can easily take your Photoshop forgery and recreate it with a regular inkjet printer and some sticker paper. You can get sticker paper in all colors and finishes at your local office store, and if you find it's too hard to recreate a sticker you can just remove the existing stickers to make your own version.
What if my ID has no sticker?
Maybe your student ID doesn't use a sticker at all. If this is the case, you're actually in a better situation because you can design your own. The important thing is to make a few fake stickers so it looks like you've been using them for awhile. Put one on, rub some dirt on it, wipe the dirt off with water, add the next sticker, do the same, and then put the clean one on top. Make it look used, and whatever sticker you design with be as believable as a real one.
The Unofficial Class Schedule
Some retailers require a class schedule or other proof of enrollment, or there may be situations where you just can't or don't want to use your student ID as proof. In those cases, it's incredibly easy to fake a class schedule. The best way to go about this is keep a copy of your class schedule when you're actually in college so you can refer to it when making the forgery. Most times it's nothing more than a text document and a college logo in the background (which is something you can easily acquire via Google image search). If you're sending the schedule via email and it needs to come from your school, it's pretty easy to spoof an outgoing email address. Overall this is a pretty simple undertaking, but, in general, you'll be fine with just an ID card.
Enlist the Youth of Tomorrow
Just like underage kids try to get older folks to buy them beer, you can enlist the help of college kids to get you a student discount. If you haven't made a little student of your own yet, or have relatives who can help you for free, you can often find students on Craiglist who are willing to loan out their student ID for a small fee. For $20 (give or take), you can get a college kid to accompany you to, say, the Apple Store, to pick up a new laptop. If you can't find such a posting, post yourself. Chances are you at least know a friend of a friend who knows someone in college, so if you ask nicely you should be able to get this service for free. Unlike the other suggestions, this tip will work for the rest of your discount-necessitating life.
Go Legit On the Cheap
If you feel bad about getting a student discount long after your time has passed, maybe it's time to become a student again. You don't have to go back for a degree, but local community colleges offer a lot of night classes you can take. If you have time, it's a chance to learn something you've always wanted to learn and you will—in most cases—wind up with a student ID. When you go to get a student discount you won't have to cheat the system because you're technically a student, even if it's not a full-time gig.
Got any other tips to prolong the life of your expired student ID card? Let's hear 'em in the comments!
Send an email to Adam Dachis, the author of this post, at adachis@lifehacker.com.
This guest post is by Roman from how this website makes money.
Two years ago I stumbled across the concept of blogging for money. Instantly it hit me as the perfect thing: sit behind a computer, design a site, write, be my own boss, work from home, what could be better? I knew nothing about traffic, SEO, backlinks, Pagerank, or keywords. I knew nothing about how to make money with a website. So what did I do next? I registered the domain name howthiswebsitemakesmoney.
Looking back all I can do is laugh at my arrogance. Like thousands before me and thousands who will come after me, my first attempt at blogging was a site about making money online.
Two years later, I know how to start a site, I know how to write content, I know about SEO, I know about backlinks, I know how to add advertisements … but I still do not know how to make good money online. The site makes dimes a day, not dollars.
The site has been two years of disappointment. Two years of waking up in the morning and seeing the same green egg in AdSense. Two years of waiting for a four-digit affiliate check with my name on it. Two years of working without pay. Two years of scratching my head.
So I asked for advice, and every time the reply was the same: create a site about something else. Create a site about what you know and what you enjoy. Do not create a site with the intent to make money, create a site with the intent to help people by doing something you enjoy doing.
What happened when I changed my intent
Six months ago I created a new site. This time my intent was pure pleasure.
I live in Prague and I love it here. So I made a little site about how great Prague is and what people should do when they come for a visit. It was built in a month. In a gust of activity I designed the site and wrote the content.
It was so easy. I did not agonize over what to write about. The content flowed effortlessly from my head to the keyboard. I did not have to take long walks with the dog or waste water standing dazed in the shower coming up with new ideas. I just sat down at the computer and wrote about what I know. It was so easy I actually looked forward to it.
As an afterthought, I created a simple page where people can order a real postcard from Prague. Visitors select a picture of Prague and fill out a form indicating what they want written on the postcard. After they hit the Submit button I get the request by email. I grab a postcard and, like an ancient scribe long before computers, lick the tip of the pen and write. After pounding a Prague stamp on the postcard I toss it into the mailbox on my way to work. I charge $4.00 for this five minutes of work.
I created this site with no aspirations of becoming rich, no day dreams of shaking hands with Oprah, no imagined scenes of telling my employer to find some other donkey to kick around. I created the website because it was easy for me to do and I enjoyed it. I made it because I needed a break from my ‘real’ website. I expected nothing to happen.
Again, I was wrong.
My hand is ink blue from all the postcards I have written.
I wrote a postcard from a son playing a trick on his mother: “Hi, Mom! Sorry for not calling in last few days. But I am in Prague with friends. Having a great time and the beer is sooo cheap. Say hi to Dad.”
I have written postcards to countries all over the world. Some of them in languages other then English—I have no idea what I am writing. Fortunately, the order form does not allow Chinese characters!
I get emails from people thanking me for the information they found on the site, thanking me for the postcard, asking for more information.
I feel like I am making the world a better place. I made a website about something I know about and am interested in and people are thanking me. Emotionally it is a soft, warm, fuzzy ball.
And yes, I am making money.
Intend to enjoy and you might make money
I learned a lot about making money online not from my site about making money, but from licking postage stamps.
New arrivals to the make-money-online scene go through the same initiation—they start out with the intent to make money, then fail to make more then a pile of pennies. For some it means the end and they quit, but for others this brutal introduction teaches them that their intent needs to change.
Of course, making money is about traffic, clicks, affiliates, backlinks SEO, but it’s also about finding something you enjoy doing. If your intent is only to make money the odds are stacked against you: you will probably quit. But if your intent is to do something you enjoy then you will keep moving forward until one day, you will be surprised to find that you are making money.
What’s your intent?
Roman intends to figure out how this website makes money. He has been trying to do that for two long years, so when he needs a break and do something fun he goes onto his other website to send a real postcard to his mother who misses him very much.
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