What type of student ID for London discounts?
 

Does anyone know if a regular college ID from the states is enough to get the student discounts that some of the touristy places offer in London?

It was a long time ago but my student ID from the University of Texas worked perfectly. I think they are used to seeing student ID's from the US and I'm betting it's still OK. I hope someone else will confirm.

You need to get an STA card which is good till you are 25 years old.It is inexpensive and offers discounts,travel bookings,etc. My kids have lived in Europe and the UK for quite awhile and their USA university ID's don't cut it for most places whereas the STA card does.Have fun!

Interesting dutyfree, I guess things have changed since I was a student. But as I said it was a long time ago when I was in school. In those days it was still called Londennium and the Romans were in charge. :-D

Too funny PM! Both of my kids were sad when they lost their discounts over there as they really do add up.

Thanks! I'm reading very conflicting info on the web about the STA card. I posted to try and find the most current info because the last post I found is from 2010. Some swear you need the card and others insist their US ID worked just fine.

If there is a difference of opinion (possibly different policies in differnt places) why would you not spend a modest sum to be sure?

There aren't that many student discounts offered in London. Most sights have two rates: Adult and Concessions. While the definition varies, concessions usually mean senior citizens (60 or 65+), children (usually under 12, sometimes 16), and disabled, non-waged etc with ID. Student discounts are more common in restaurants, bars and shops that cater to a large student population, and for that you need NUS card (issued to registered students in UK). http://www.isic.org/ may not be accepted. I doubt very much if they accept US student ID though it's always worth a try. Reduction is usually modest - 10 or 20%.

I believe it's actually the ISIC which you can get through STA Travel.

http://www.isic.org/

Many school campuses have an STA.
http://www.statravel.com/

Looks like my daughter is going to test the discounts with her college issued ID because I just read that it takes up to 3 weeks to receive the ISIC card and she will be leaving before that. Oh well! Hopefully she can score a few deals anyway.

Depending on where she is traveling to you can usually get it the same day at one of the agencies.

First point, the discounts ain't what they used to be. For example, St Paul's cathedral, adult £15, senior and students £14. Second point, it is hard to imagine that the ticket seller is going to be a stickler about the type of student card for such a paltry amount.

As there are few student-specific discounts in London, she should instead concentrate on finding good-value places, which exist all over London but not always obvious. Time Out magazine (weekly) lists good current deals. Also look out for 2-for-1 deals, esp on trips to outside London. http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/

Beg to differ with you Ron-my kids have been turned down from Sicily to France,Germany to Sweden with ticket folks that are like hallroom monitors on getting discounts with their student cards.I agree that it is usually only about 2-4 euros but hey,thats beer or wine money?

dutyfree, maybe the OP will report back on her daughter's experiences so we can learn if what happens in Sweden and Sicily also happens in London.

ron, I will report back and let everyone know what my daughter discovered.

1. You can't possibly generalise on this. Different places (and different individuals) will treat non-NUS cards differently from each other. Your daughter's experience will be different from anyone else's

2. There are few student discounts anyway. On tubes and buses, discounts are available only to students currently studying at defined London-area establishments and need a special card, and on trains only to holders of a 16-25 Railcard (costs ~£25). Almost everywhere else: as Alec says, either it'll be free or the discount will be mostly trivial - and far, far less than she'd get if she had a travelling companion and they were using the 2 for 1 deal with a Travelcard

Well...I'm from New Zealand and I've managed to get student discounts with my regular student ID countless times in Italy, Switzerland, France, England, Sweden, Denmark, but not Finland. In Finland they only accept Finnish student ID. Most of the time the ticket sellers don't even want to see the ID, they just take my word for it (though I do fish round in my bag and ask if they need to see it). So yeah, I think that most of the places just want confirmation that you are a student, not an adult trying to get away with student prices.

I used my university issued student ID (Canadian) during our last trip to the UK without any trouble.

It's true there weren't many occasions when discounts were available and the reductions weren't significant, but on our budget, every bit counted. In some cases (outside of London), I didn't even need to show the ID, it was enough to say "one student ticket, please".

"but on our budget, every bit counted"

All the more reason for ensuring you get a useful discount. If it's "our" budget, you'd almost always have got a much bigger discount with a Travelcard than by messing about with student rates.