The Perks of Higher Education

IU offers its students many great opportunities and experiences. One of my personal favorites is the amount of technology available. Obviously, "technology" is a very broad term, but what I am talking about is primarily the software that is available to students at IU. Between the campus bookstores and the UITS software websites, students have access to hundreds of software titles to satisfy any and all class requirements, and virtually any extracurricular aspirations one might have, such as to become a Photoshop guru, video editor, database designer, Web site builder, etc…

In addition to software, students are also eligible for substantial discounts on technology products and services through various vendors. Savings can be realized on everything from basic cables to advanced computers and hardware.

Another one of the greatest perks of higher education, hands down, is the opportunity to become an Amazon Prime member at Amazon.com. By simply supplying Amazon with your personal (username@indiana.edu) e-mail address, paying for shipping becomes a thing of the past when you buy an item sold by and/or shipped by Amazon.com. What's more, with this free, one-year prime membership, two-day shipping is also free. I could literally write an entire book about how great Amazon Prime is. Waiting for online orders to arrive in your mailbox becomes a thing of the past. Procrastinating to order textbooks, school supplies, winter hats and gloves, and all those other campus necessities is perfectly acceptable now when you know it will be waiting for you in your mailbox in less than 48 hours.

Although numerous other aspects of higher education are certainly noteworthy, these are the ones that I feel go unnoticed most often by new and current students. Between paying money for software that you have technically already paid for, and waiting more than a couple days for online orders, many students miss out on the benefits that are available to them for free. And even those that aren’t “free” still give students the opportunity to potentially save hundreds of dollars throughout their academic careers.