Admissions Blog

Discounts and Free Perks of Being a Columbia Student

By CAROLINA TAMAYO
Posted Apr 04 2022
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It is no secret that NYC is an expensive place to live, and being a full-time student means having limited income. It can be overwhelming to think about spending money in entertainment. However, there are many discounts that you can access as a student! Make sure to get a hold of them and enjoy New York without draining your bank account:

  • Events and tickets: visit the Columbia Arts Initiative to find out about free events, as well as to buy tickets to shows, performances, Broadway, movies, exhibitions and other cultural performances.
  • Museums: The Passport to Museums Program gets you free admission to about 30 NYC museums! For the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Africa Center, and you can even further your experience with the Columbia Nights initiative. Other museums not included in the pass offer student prices, such as the Guggenheim and the American Museum of Natural History.
  • Sports, parks, and other shows: this list compiled by the Columbia Spectator is another amazing source for additional discounts, as is their second list.
  • Lastly, this extensive compilation  made by GSAS offer a great variety of discounted opportunities for Columbia students.

​​​​​​​A good tip is to carry your student ID, which you will get during orientation,  anywhere you go when taking in the local sights of the city. For me, making time to visit NYC museums was one of the best ways to compliment my experience at SIPA. I particularly enjoyed the MET, as besides the permanent exhibitions, it offers temporary ones. Moreover, they periodically host “date nights” featuring art performances and extended hours. Attending a live medieval music session with Sonnambula and walking around the museum’s wings at night was the closest experience to the “Night at the Museum” movie. I highly recommend!



Beyond cultural and entertainment experiences, Columbia offers discounts to students in laptops, tech and software. While we have provided a very extensive list of discounts that can be accessed as a student, a good rule of thumb is to check if webpages, events and subscriptions that may not be listed here have them too. You would be surprised how many have special prices for students!