My Credit Card Picks for College Students
Written By: Nick Nguyen | Read full profile
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It’s tough in College when your credit score is still young and you’re trying to “adult.” What a lot of people don’t know is there are some credit cards that are meant for students with the same exact benefits as their regular counterparts (you just miss out on the sign-up bonus). Here are 5 credit cards that I personally used to build my credit score in college and worked out perfectly for me!
This is one of my new favorite cards. If you’re a student, you can’t go wrong with this one. You get 3% cash back on a category of your choice (gas stations, restaurants, online purchases, travel, etc.) that you can change every month. There’s also 2% cashback on grocery stores and wholesale clubs (think Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s). If you do qualify for the regular Cash Rewards card, definitely go for it if you know you’ll spend $1000 in the first 90 days to claim that extra $200 sign-up bonus. But if you’re looking for a solid, all-around credit card as a college student, you can’t go wrong here:
- Earn 3% in the category of your choice on a monthly basis
- Earn 2% in grocery stores and wholesale clubs
- App and online interface are easy to use
- Extra cashback rewards through Bank of America at certain stores
- No annual fee
- 1% cashback on all other purchases
- Limited chat support for questions
- No special benefits like price protection or extended warranties
- No referral bonus
- Foreign transaction fees
This is a great card if you’re a college student that has to pay a lot of money for parking, tolls, or just travelling in general. I used this card in combination with the Cash Rewards Card up top. The points can be transferred between the cards and you can lump them all together! When I travelled abroad, this card was a lifesaver with no foreign transaction fees. If you can qualify for the regular card, they usually give a 25,000 point sign-up bonus if you spend $1000 in the first 90 days. Definitely a great card to open up and use to book travel when you’re planning to study abroad!
- Relatively easy to get approved as a college student
- Earn 1.5 points per $1 spent
- Travel credit can be used on a lot of different previous purchases.
- App and online interface are easy to use
- Extra cashback rewards through Bank of America at certain stores
- No annual fee
- No foreign transaction fees
- 1% cashback on all other purchases
- Limited chat support for questions
- No special benefits like price protection or extended warranties
- No referral bonus
I mentioned this one in my top picks for beginners, but the student version is seriously the bomb dot com. I get all the perks of a revolving category calendar with a whopping 5% cashback and as a student, I get an extra $20 statement credit for 5 years! You still get all the same perks as the regular card like the cashback matching in the first year! And make sure you use someone’s referral link so you can get that extra $50 sign-up bonus.
- Relatively easy to get approved as a college student
- 5% cashback on certain popular categories every 3 months
- App and online interface are very easy to use
- Chat support for immediate questions
- No foreign transaction fees
- No annual fee
- Referral bonus of $50 if your friends use your link
- Several cool designs to choose from
- 1% cashback on all other purchases
- No special benefits like price protection or extended warranties
- Discover is not as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercards
This card doesn’t have the highest cashback bonus, but it’s excellent for extra benefits like Travel Accident Insurance, Auto Rental Collision damage waivers, and extended warranties! Not to mention, it’s great for a backup travel card with no foreign transaction fees. You also get a 1.25% cash back boost at the end of the month if you pay on time and they automatically consider you for a credit limit increase every 6 months - great for beginners trying to build good habits and a solid credit score!
- Relatively easy to get approved as a college student
- Paying on time gets you a small boost of 1.25% cashback instead of 1% at the end of the month
- App and online interface are very easy to use
- Chat support for immediate questions
- Special benefits (Extended warranty, auto rental collision, travel accident insurance etc.)
- No foreign transaction fees
- No annual fee
- 1% cashback on all purchases
- No referral bonus
This one is not technically a student-geared card, but it’s definitely worth an honorable mention. I’ve got a ton of friends who opened this card while in college without a long credit history and were approved with no issues! They have a solid 1.5% cashback and $150 sign-up bonus after you spend $500 in your first 3 months of opening the card. Plus they’ve got no foreign transaction fees and a lot of special benefits and warranties!
- 1.5% Cashback
- App and online interface are very easy to use
- Chat support for immediate questions
- Special benefits (Extended warranty, auto rental collision, travel accident insurance etc.)
- No foreign transaction fees
- Referral bonus of up to $500 per year ($100 per person that signs up)
- No annual fee
- Not technically a student card, so it may not be as easy to get approved as other cards dedicated specifically for students.
**Nguyening Lifestyles is not a registered financial service provider and is not liable for any decisions you make regarding credit cards or managing your debt. We are simply here to entertain and provide content for educational purposes only. Therefore, we are not liable in any capacity for any actions that may result from reading this post. Proceed with using any type of credit card, credit line, debt, credit reporting company, etc. with caution.
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