by Kelly Chia, Staff Writer
Now that I’m in the last portion of my degree, I find there are many services that SFU provides that I didn’t know about as a first-year student. I wanted to compile some of the resources I found that will hopefully help a fellow student save some money.
Student Discounts
Many retail stores offer student discounts, so it’s useful to see if student discounts are available before you shop and to bring your student ID. For example, Apple offers up to $250 in savings on iPads, MacBooks, and other select products. Students could also consider the Student Price Card (SPC), which is $10 for a one-year membership, offering 10–20% discounts in over 450 stores. This is a list of stores that offer retail discounts in Canada.
SFU Library
As a student, you have access to academic databases and journals. One of those databases is a film platform, Criterion-on-Demand, which features more than 1,500 titles including feature films and documentaries. You can watch action films like Alita: Battle Angel or documentaries from as recent as 2020 like I Am Greta.
The SFU Library also opened up their Media and Maker Commons space last year. Currently, the space is open for limited by-appointment services for SFU instructors, but when we return to campus, it’s bound to be popular. There are media spaces designed for recording podcasts and a video studio where you can set up lights, a green screen, and more.
Once you complete the safety workshops on Canvas, you gain access to the 3D printer, scanner, laser cutter, or dremel for personal or professional projects.
Lastly, did you know that you can borrow video game consoles from the library? You have to search for “console” and filter the search for “other”, but from there, you can find the Nintendo Switch, the Sega Genesis, and more. You can also find games to play on there, too!
Software
This is a list of free or discounted software which are useful for schoolwork and personal projects.
This is a compilation of offers and services that partner with Github. Many are specific to developing coding skills, like educative.io, where students have six free months of access to Python and Machine Learning courses. Some may be useful for students looking to set up a portfolio for their work, like namecheap and Name.com, which let students register a domain for free. Canva is great for designing graphics and templates for personal and professional work, and students get a 12-month subscription to Canva’s pro tier.
This is particularly helpful for students who are building their own PCs and don’t have an operation system (OS). In my experience, buying PC parts can be really expensive, so it was nice to have easy access to an OS and not have to worry about purchasing the license.
Students get the Adobe Creative Cloud suite at $25.15 a month, giving them access to all of Adobe’s editing, photography, and design apps on desktop and mobile devices. Alternatively, if you would prefer free software that does a similar job, this article lists specific alternatives for Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and more.
Microsoft Office 365 offers students Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for free while they are a student. They also offer 100GB of space on OneDrive.
SFU Vault is a Cloud-based storage space with apps for desktop, Android, and iOS. This means if you want to save files from your phone on the app, it will sync to your computer. It includes 50GB of space.
SFU students can host 10GB of webspace, which can be used for making their own website or uploading study and work files. This is also a good option for hosting your portfolio.
Learning Resources
This section includes online classes that students can take recreationally, or university courses that they may be curious about but can’t afford to take.
Formerly known as Lynda, LinkedIn Learning provides a variety of courses, from professional development classes like accounting software and small business marketing, to creative classes like how to render and illustrate. Students can connect their school account to LinkedIn and access all offered classes for free.
EdX partners with universities like Harvard and Berkeley to put out courses that students can audit. For free, students can access course materials but would not be able to access or complete assignments and exams with instructor support. I last took a 100-level computing science class with edX, giving me access to a discussion forum with other students, recorded lectures, and assignments. It was really insightful, and I recommend checking it out if only for the variety of classes offered to students.
