35 really useful websites for students
University can be stressful. Trust us, we've been there. But adapting to uni life is a lot easier if you know where to look for help with budgeting, mental health support and Harvard referencing...
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Being a student can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a lot to deal with. Making new friends, finding your way around Turnitin and avoiding basic money mistakes... the struggle is real.
Try not to get too bogged down in the details though. After all, university is what you make of it. If you know where to go to get cheap food, help with essays and career support, you can't go wrong. And that's where these handy websites come in.
Best websites for university students
Here are the most useful websites for students:
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Approved Food
Best for: Cheap food
Approved Food is an online food retailer stocking products that are nearly (or already) past their best-before date, but are still perfectly edible. Great for cheap dinners and healthy meals on a budget.
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Camelcamelcamel
Best for: Amazon price tracking
This Amazon price tracker is essential for buying electronics and books online. Using camelcamelcamel is one of our top Amazon hacks, as it monitors products on the site and alerts you when prices drop to help you get the best deal.
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Canva
Best for: Easy graphic design
Need some help making your CV stand out or designing promotional material for your new business? With many free templates to help you do just that, Canva is the place to go.
Although you can use many of their resources free of charge, they also have a Canva Pro subscription that gives you access to 1TB of storage, royalty-free images/videos and much more.
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Citizens Advice Bureau
Best for: Legal advice
Is your landlord trying to avoid giving you your deposit back?
With a helpline and offices located all around the country, the Citizens Advice Bureau is a great port of call for any legal issues that may occur during your time at university. These can include concerns related to accommodation, finance or your consumer rights.
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Cold Turkey
Best for: Staying off social media
Cold Turkey isn't strictly a website, but it'll certainly help you make better use of the other sites on this list.
Download the application and it'll block you from accessing any websites you're keen to avoid while you're trying to work. It can be a true necessity if you want to be more productive or if you need to write an essay in a day...
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Diversifying
Best for: Jobs for students from ethnic minority backgrounds
Diversifying is a search engine which includes job listings from companies that are keen to recruit people of different backgrounds and abilities.
It's not as extensive as other popular search engines, but it has some interesting listings from the charity sector and public organisations.
There's also a whole world of funding out there for students from ethnic minorities. -
edX
Best for: Online courses
edX is an enormous open online course provider, including some that are free of charge. It hosts courses on an array of disciplines at university level – ideal for learning new skills to add to your CV.
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Ethical Superstore
Best for: Environmentally friendly household products and food
This is an excellent choice for topping up on household essentials like loo roll, laundry detergent and bin bags.
The Ethical Superstore is an eco-friendly online store. It sells food, drink, health and beauty products and even clothes, like a regular supermarket. It's perfect if you're trying to use less plastic without changing your whole lifestyle.
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Freecycle
Best for: Free furniture
Looking for furniture for your uni room? Freecycle is filled with people advertising household items and old furniture they no longer use but don't want to see thrown into a landfill. And, you guessed it, all for free!
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Google Scholar
Best for: Academic texts
Google Scholar is a search engine for academic texts across a wide variety of topics.
Some texts are included in their entirety and some are just partially included (especially books), but it's a great website for improving your bibliography.
It also creates citations in a few styles including Harvard referencing. Just double-check the citation against your uni's formatting guidelines to make sure it's correct.
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Graduate Recruitment Bureau
Best for: Placing graduates in jobs after uni
The Graduate Recruitment Bureau (GRB) is a graduate recruitment consultancy that connects students with graduate recruiters, SMEs and start-ups. It helps candidates looking for full-time graduate jobs, graduate schemes, placement years and internships.
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Grammarly
Best for: Checking your spelling
Grammarly is an excellent spelling and grammar checker you can install into your browser. No more typos in those essays!
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Hive
Best for: Not buying books on Amazon
For students worried about the ethical implications of making purchases on Amazon, Hive is a good alternative for books. It sells books from independent bookshops around the UK and gives a percentage of the profits back to them.
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Idealo
Best for: Price comparison
Similar to camelcamelcamel, Idealo is a price comparison website for anything from smartphones to cheap flights. It's a great research tool for bigger purchases.
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JSTOR
Best for: Academic journals
JSTOR is a go-to for back issues and current issues of academic journals, books and other primary sources for your essay needs.
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Milkround
Best for: Graduate jobs and internships
Milkround is a job search engine (not a recruitment agency) specialising in positions, internships and placements for graduates.
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Mind
Best for: Support for your mental health
One of the UK's biggest mental health charities, Mind is a helpful place to turn to if you or one of your mates are struggling with any mental health issues. The charity also has a helpline if you're in need of more assistance.
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Muslim Youth Helpline
Best for: Faith and culturally sensitive support
A charity providing help and support for young people of the Muslim faith. The helpline service is open seven days a week, 365 days a year (including bank holidays and Eid). Email and webchat services are also available.
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National Debt Line
Best for: Debt advice
The National Debtline is there to help people struggling with debt. You can get in touch with them by webchat or phone, but you can also use their Digital Advice Tool for help. The website provides fact sheets on how to recover from debt, settlements and court proceedings.
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Notion
Best for: Organising your life
Using Notion is a great way to be more organised. Use it to plan your week, track goals, keep on top of uni deadlines and much more.
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Project Gutenberg
Best for: Free eBooks of old texts
Project Gutenberg is an eBook library for free texts and books whose copyright has expired. It's handy for coursework and projects, as well as making your essays better. This is an especially useful website for students on social sciences or humanities courses.
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Quidco
Best for: Cashback
Quidco is one of the UK's most popular cashback sites, offering money back on everything from flights to broadband contracts, and even purchases on eBay.
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Save the Student
Best for: Student money advice
Time for some shameless self-promotion! Check out our guides on the best student bank accounts, how to meal plan, how to budget and how to make money at the drop of a hat.
We also share the top student deals and discounts.
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Sexual Health London
Best for: Sexual health resources for London-based students
Working in partnership with the NHS, Sexual Health London provides free STI tests delivered to your house (if you live in London) and sexual health resources for Londoners.
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SH24
Best for: Sexual health resources
SH24 provides free STI testing, diagnosis and treatment, oral contraception, the morning-after pill and remote clinical support for people across the UK (with the exception of a few regions).
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Skillshare
Best for: Learning new skills
Fancy learning something new? Then check out Skillshare. With courses on a wide range of topics like crafts, writing and becoming a successful freelancer, there is something for everyone.
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StepChange
Best for: Advice about debt management
StepChange is a debt charity offering free expert advice on debt and debt management. It could help if you're struggling with payday loans, for example.
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Stonewall
Best for: LGBTQ+ support
Stonewall is an LGBTQ+ charity that provides information on coming out, health and wellbeing.
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Student Minds
Best for: Uni mental health support
It's not a helpline, but Student Minds runs student-led support groups at various UK universities.
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TED talks
Best for: Getting motivated
You can watch TED talks by experts from all over the world that will leave you feeling motivated (and that double up as 'useful' ways to procrastinate!).
This is a handy website if you're looking to increase your productivity.
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Thesaurus.com
Best for: Getting full marks for 'writing style'
As long as you don't go full 'Joey from Friends' and run every single word through the thesaurus, this website will be a huge help when you're writing an essay.
There are usually extra marks on offer for coherent, grammatically accurate writing, so describing trends as something other than 'interesting' or 'surprising' could be what helps you get a first.
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The Ultimate Health Food Guide
Best for: Knowing the best food to eat when you're sick
A product of Buyagift, this is basically a table of what to eat and drink when you're struggling with tiredness, migraines, concentration, constipation and so on. It could be very useful when nursing a hangover!
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TopCashback
Best for: Cashback
Alongside Quidco, TopCashback is the other leading UK cashback website. Look out for their Free Cashback feature for completing simple online tasks.
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Trolley
Best for: Finding the best deals
To make sure you never pay more than needed for food, drink and household essentials, head to Trolley.
This helpful price comparison website will show you exactly where to get your favourite groceries for the best price.
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Vinted
Best for: Buying and selling old clothes
Consider selling your old clothes and shoes on Vinted.
Not only is it an easy way to make some extra cash, but it has the added benefit of clearing out your dorm room and making it less cluttered.
Alternatively, Vinted can help you save money (and the planet) by buying second-hand clothes, rather than new ones.
Here are a few things you can do to make your CV stand out to future employers.
