Discover it Student Cash Back Credit Card Review 2024

• Introducing Discover it Student Cash Back Credit Card
• Discover it Student Cash Back Quick Facts
• What Is the Discover it Student Cash Back Credit Card Best For?
• Discover it Student Cash Back Credit Card Rewards
• Other Discover it Student Cash Back Benefits
• Introductory Rates
• How To Maximize Discover it Student Cash Back Rewards
• Fine Print
• How the Discover it Student Cash Back Credit Card Stacks Up
• Is the Discover it Student Cash Back Credit Card For You?
• Methodology
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Discover it® Student Cash Back card has a number of perks. While it won’t necessarily churn out the rewards and benefits in the same way as cards for more established credit profiles, the Discover it® Student Cash Back card is a great way to build a financial reputation. And with strong credit, you can eventually move on to more rewarding cards.

With elevated earnings in quarterly rotating categories, the Discover it® Student Cash Back card does offer some nice looking rewards. What’s not so nice is that these bonus categories must be activated every three months and there is a $1,500 quarterly cap. After you’ve maxed out your quarterly bonus, any additional spending earns the same as all other purchases: unlimited 1% cash back.

With Discover’s Unlimited Cashback Match™ - Discover will match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year. There's no minimum spending or maximum rewards. So with a doubled first-year reward return, the cash back earned with this card might not be so shabby if leveraged well.

Students who plan to study abroad should be aware that while the Discover it® Student Cash Back has no foreign transaction fees, Discover may not be as widely accepted outside the U.S. as other major card issuers. For this reason, finding a student card on the Visa or Mastercard payment networks could be advisable.

• Students can build credit history with regular, on-time payments
• Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places each quarter like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations and more, up to the quarterly maximum once activated. Plus, automatically earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases
• 0% intro APR on purchases for 6 months, then the standard variable purchase APR of 18.24% - 27.24% applies
• $0 annual fee

The Discover it® Student Cash Back is best for students with limited credit profiles. The Discover it® Student Cash Back offers reasonably good cash-back rewards categories which will give students the ability to earn cash back while building credit.

Earning Rewards

The unlimited 1% cash-back rewards rate offered by the Discover it® Student Cash Back is automatically earned on all purchases. To earn 5% cash back in quarterly rotating categories capped at $1,500 spent per quarter, cardholders must activate the category. Discover’s cash-back match automatically doubles all rewards earned at the end of the first year.

Redeeming Rewards

Rewards earned with the Discover it® Student Cash Back card may be redeemed in any amount at any time as a statement credit or deposit and do not expire. When the account is closed or after 18 months of no use, any remaining reward balances are credited to the account.

Rewards Potential

In order to determine the rewards potential of the Discover it® Student Cash Back card, Forbes Advisor used a number of reputable sources to determine what the typical college student spends in a year.

If we assume typical annual expenses of $18,190, and that the student spends $1,500 in each of the rotating categories, we can expect the student to earn a total of $300 from the rotating categories plus $121.90 from all other purchases for a total of $421.90 in cash back each year. This amount will be doubled at the end of the first year as part of Discover’s cash-back match—so this hypothetical student would earn $843.80 the first year.

Discover it® Student Cash Back Rewards Potential
Category	Earning Rate	Estimated Annual Spend	Estimated Annual Earnings
Rotating bonus categories	5%	$6,000	$300
All other purchases	1%	$12,190	$121.90
			Total: $421.90

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• Choice of card designs. Choose from several designs.
• Text and email alerts. Receive notifications including statements and refunds.
• FICO Score. Cardholders have access to their FICO Score for free with Discover.
• Social Security Number alerts. Sign up for this benefit and Discover will scan dark web sites to look for any identity theft risks.
• Mobile app. Access to reward and purchase tracking via Discover’s mobile app.
• Freeze it®. Place holds on stolen or missing cards via the app.
• Online privacy protection. Activate this benefit in the mobile app and Discover will help remove your personal information from various people-search websites.

The Discover it® Student Cash Back card offers a 0% intro APR on purchases for 6 months, then the standard variable purchase APR of 18.24% - 27.24% applies, depending on creditworthiness.

The best time to maximize your Discover it® Student Cash Back rewards is during your first year of card ownership. With Discover’s Unlimited Cashback intro offer, you’ll automatically receive a dollar-for-dollar match for all of the cash back you earned at the end of your first year.

To take full advantage of this offer, you’ll also want to maximize the 5% cash back quarterly rotating categories. If you activate each quarter and hit the max spend of $1,500 per quarter, you’ll earn $300 in cash back which would double to $600 at the end of your first year. This is not including the unlimited 1% cash back you’d earn on all other purchases which would also double after your first year. But be careful to only charge what you can pay in full. Any interest charges will quickly eat away your potential rewards.

Interest Rates

• Regular APR: 18.24% - 27.24% Variable APR
• Purchase intro APR: 0% Intro APR for 6 months
• Balance transfer intro APR: 10.99% Intro APR for 6 months

Fees

• Annual fee: $0
• Balance transfer fee: 3% intro balance transfer fee, up to 5% fee on future balance transfers (see terms)*
• Foreign purchase transaction fee: None

Discover it® Student Cash Back vs. Discover it® Student Chrome

One possible alternative to the Discover it® Student Cash Back is the Discover it® Student Chrome, which replaces the must-be-activated 5% rotating quarterly categories (up to $1,500 in spending) with 2% cash back at gas stations and restaurants on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter and 1% cash back on all other purchases.

If maximized, the rewards from the Discover it® Student Cash Back will easily out-earn those from the Discover it® Student Chrome. But the likelihood of casual spending earning maximums in fairly specific and limited quarterly categories is low—so weigh the reward options (and the convenience involved) carefully when choosing between these cards.

At most, the Discover it® Student Cash Back’s $1,500 quarterly capped, rotating cash-back categories (activation required) would yield a maximum of $300 in cash back in one year at the 5% rate—and would require spending $6,000 in the bonus categories. The Discover it® Student Chrome offers a much lower rewards cap. Its 2% cash-back categories could yield a maximum of $80 cash back in one year, requiring a spend of $4,000.

Other than the cash-back schemes being different, these cards are otherwise very similar. And like the Discover it® Student Cash Back, the Discover it® Student Chrome also comes with Unlimited Cashback Match™ - Discover will automatically match all the cash back earned at the end of the first year. There's no minimum spending or maximum rewards.

Discover it® Student Cash Back vs. Chase Freedom Rise*

For those who don’t want or don’t see value in the rotating categories of the Discover it® Student Cash Back card, the Chase Freedom Rise* offers the opportunity to build credit history and enjoy a simple cash-back program at the same time.

The Chase Freedom Rise* is the best option for those who would like to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points while building their credit. The card earns 1.5% cash back on every purchase with no rewards limits.

This card is open to anyone who’s new to credit regardless of their college enrollment status. You can also boost your chances of approval by having a Chase checking account with a balance of at least $250 when you apply.

For students willing to put in the work of activating the rotating categories, the Discover it® Student Cash Back could yield better results, but the Chase Freedom Rise* may appeal to those looking for a flat-rate option. Note, however, that the Chase Freedom Rise* does charge a foreign transaction fee of 3% of each transaction in U.S. dollars.

Discover it® Student Cash Back vs.  Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card for Students

The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card for Students is an amazing card for students who plan to study abroad or hit the road, but it’s also a great option in general. With this card, you’ll earn 1.5 points per dollar on all purchases everywhere, every time with no expiration on points as long as your account remains open.

The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card for Students is unlikely to beat the Discover it® Student Cash Back purely in terms of rewards earned. With the same level of spending, this card will likely only generate $272.85 in rewards each year.

The real benefit to the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card for Students, beyond its simplicity, is its wide international acceptance as a Visa card and a lack of foreign transaction fees. There’s also the following welcome bonus: 25,000 online bonus points after spending $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening.

While students who spend heavily in the Discover it® Student Cash Back’s capped bonus categories may do better with the Discover student card in the first year—due to the unlimited cash-back match—those whose spending doesn’t match up well with those categories are likely to get more value from the Bank of America card’s bonus.

With competitive cash-back rates and few drawbacks, the Discover it® Student Cash Back can be a great tool for students to build stronger credit. Plus, with an introductory APR on purchases, this card may give you the opportunity to pay off large beginning of the year purchases. The card, however, may not be a fit for students who study abroad or those who don’t want to put the effort in to manage the somewhat complex cash-back rewards.

Forbes Advisor considers a variety of criteria when assigning credit cards a rating. Cards are graded based on numerous factors, including:

• Annual fees
• Welcome bonus offers
• Ongoing earning rates
• Value of individual points or miles
• Included travel or merchant credits
• Additional cardholder benefits

Card features we expect cardholders to use the most often are weighted more heavily in our ratings. Altogether, the factors come together to provide a star rating for each individual card.

Read more: How Forbes Advisor rates credit cards