Is The NUS Card Worth Having?

The NUS card is a student identity card provided by the National Union of Students.  NUS are there to work with student unions to promote, defend and extend students rights.  It represents 5.2million UK students, of which over 500,000 are in Scotland alone, in further and higher education.  NUS is active in its campaigning and last year alone campaigned on proposing a new funding model for universities, getting student issues at the centre of the general election and liberation campaigns to name a few.

During Fresher’s week, students will get the opportunity to buy a NUS card for £11, or £17 with a photo on it.  This card offers you the opportunity to get a wide range of discounts on high street stores and online favourites and also provides an extra source of student ID, ‘to prevent you losing your driving licence or university student card on a night out’, as it is promoted.

As well as offering you lots of discount and the opportunity to be part of an important voice for students across the country, is the NUS card really worth having?  Well, I don’t actually think so.  I have had a NUS card now for a year and I could count the number of times I have used it on one hand.  The main benefit it provides for me is that you can get tailored promotional codes for amazon.co.uk.  However, the discount is not accepted on Amazon Marketplace and will only apply to products purchased from Amazon itself.  And many of the stores it offers discount for, already allow student discount on the production of any student id, including your university card.

For those that are thinking that the NUS card is not only a discount card, it is also vital in giving us students a voice in politics.  But by being a student alone, we hold that opportunity to voice our opinions through an equally as strong organisation, our union.  We hold the power to tell them what we want and they in turn can voice these opinions to the university and beyond.

NUS are a great organisation committed to making sure students are heard and it’s a great cause to support.  With the NUS card you get to do this, whilst also getting some good bargains and an extra ID.  However, it does only last a year and your university card does most of the work anyway.  In my opinion, the NUS card was not what I expected, but it’s better to do the research yourself and decide between it and a night round the union.

Visit www.nusextra.co.uk for more information.

LB