Being a college student who knows they need a professional website but can’t quite justify the expense can lead to a certain kind of frustration. A design school portfolio. A journalism course blog. A storefront for a handcrafted jewelry company that began as a hobby during quarantine and managed to survive. There is ambition. Less so is the budget.
The Squarespace student discount is intended to bridge that exact gap, and it’s a more substantial offer than most people are aware.
Verified students can currently receive 50% off the first full year of an annual website plan from Squarespace. Not a trial. Not a simplified version. A full yearly subscription, halved. Student Beans, a third-party platform that provides free enrollment status confirmation, is used for the verification. The offer code is delivered soon after, the process takes a few minutes, and the discount is applied at the point of sale. It’s close to instant magic, but not quite.
Many students seem to be unaware of this. When discussing “cheap” tools, Squarespace isn’t always the first name that comes to mind; instead, it is typically presented as the more sophisticated, high-end choice, which it is in comparison to free builders. However, 50% off significantly alters the calculations. When the price is cut in half for the first year, what seems like a luxury at full price begins to seem affordable.
Plans that qualify are numerous. Plans including Basic, Core, Plus, Advanced, Personal, Business, and Commerce are all eligible. From a basic portfolio to a functional online store, that covers almost every use case a student is likely to have. It’s equally important to know what doesn’t qualify: Acuity Scheduling subscriptions, domain-only purchases, and monthly plans. The discount doesn’t stack with other promo codes and only applies to the initial payment. The full price is applied when the subscription automatically renews.
Here, timing is crucial. If you get a code in November and intend to use it in February, it’s already expired because Student Beans creates single-use codes that expire at the end of the year. Getting the code only when you’re prepared to pay is the wiser course of action, which Squarespace itself recommends. It saves the headache, but it requires a few extra steps.
One thing to be aware of is that Squarespace will retroactively reimburse the difference if a student has already subscribed within the last seven days without using the discount. It’s a helpful grace period for anyone who missed the fine print, and it’s not a typical policy in the software industry. The procedure entails sending the offer code and a brief description to support via the website’s chat feature.
It’s difficult to ignore the fact that this type of agreement can genuinely change students’ perceptions of professional presence. It is now standard practice to have a LinkedIn profile. For many professions, a personal website continues to be a differentiator. Having a legitimate domain and a clean website is still important, whether it’s for a writing archive, a UX portfolio, or a small business with goals beyond Instagram. While it doesn’t address every issue, the Squarespace student discount eliminates one of the simpler justifications for delaying.
The twenty minutes it takes to set up are worthwhile for students who meet the requirements and are enrolled full-time in an eligible college or university.
