Texas State student may qualify for discounts on cell phone plans

Nov 5 2009 - 12:10am | Ammie Jimenez

Cell phones are huge part of everyday student life.

We are attached to them as if they were a permanent part of our body. Between school and social lives, cell phones are the best, easiest way for most of us to stay connected.

Unfortunately, it is not always the cheapest way.

For those of us not fortunate enough to belong to a family cell phone plan and have to gather the money ourselves, it can become quite an overwhelming situation. Not only that, but with most major carriers, individual phone plans tend to be pretty outrageous. It is obvious the best deals are given to family plans.

So we are left with a big question: what can we do about our phones?

Stopping short of saving money for paying the cell phone bill and neglecting other bills…one can try to be smart about it and beat the system.
I had to give up my old provider to continue getting service at all, which was a shame.

One of the best ways to get around this dilemma is with a little research.

Many business, schools and employers have deals with certain phone carriers to offer students, faculty and workers discounts on cell phones and plans. It is a great way to try to lessen the burden of expenses, which seem to pile up during the semester.

For example Texas State has a contract with AT&T, formerly known as Cingular, which offers students and staff members a discount through something called the Texas State Sponsorship. It is really great and very helpful. It is pretty easy to check if you qualify and see the available options.

To get started is simple. Any student can visit the AT&T Web site and search for the university advantage program.

I’m not suggesting the only way to lower your cell phone bill is to drop your current carrier and switch to AT&T. However, when trying to figure out how to best shrink expenses, a good idea would be to utilize discounts that come from simply being a university student.

When you go to the movies you take advantage of discounted tickets, so why should the same principle not apply in other areas?

No one wants to give up their much-beloved cellular device in order to make bill pay easier. The only other logical solution is to try to make the expense as little a burden as possible. So remember to look into all options and utilize all discounts.

There is no need to make our wallets any lighter, right?

—Ammie Jimenez is an English junior

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