Andrew Heinzman
There’s a subscription box for every hobby and interest, and they’re especially great for college students. Whether you’re getting yourself something nice or hunting down a monthly care package for a family member, we’ve got the subscription box for you.
Hold on, why are subscription boxes so great for college students? Well, aside from the fact that everyone loves surprises, subscription boxes tend to be cheap and convenient. While college students could buy all their coffee or snacks at the grocery store, it’s almost always less expensive and more convenient to get those items once a month from a subscription service.
Think of subscription boxes as laser-focused care packages. They’re usually centered around a specific hobby or interest, and they sometimes come with collectible or exclusive items (like records, figurines, etc.).
Alright, let’s get into it. Here are the best subscription boxes for college students.
For Healthy, Cheap Meals: HelloFRESH
It’s hard to keep up a healthy diet in college. There isn’t much time for cooking (or shopping for ingredients), and it’s hard to eat out every day on a college budget.
So if you want to keep your health in check, then check out the HelloFRESH subscription box. With HelloFRESH, you receive the ingredients to make a new recipe every few days, and you can even opt for vegetarian options. With discount offers that start at $22 per week, it’s about half the price of eating out.
For The Daily Grind: Atlas Coffee Club
Whether you spend your weekdays cramming French vocabulary or rewatching The Office (equally important college experiences), you probably owe some of your strength and ambition to the power of coffee. But aren’t you getting bored with the coffee in your cupboard?
Atlas Coffee Club is a subscription box that brings coffee from around the world right to your door. With Atlas’ cheapest plan, you pay just $9 every four weeks to get a 6oz bag of exotic coffee. That’s much cheaper than Starbucks and much more valuable to your taste buds than whatever’s in the cupboard right now.
For Music Fans: Vinyl Me, Please
Of all the vinyl record subscription boxes, Vinyl Me, Please may be the most exciting. Every month, you get to choose a record from Vinyl Me’s extensive catalog of classics, new hits, and rare releases (some of Vinyl Me’s exclusives are already hot collector items). These records are pressed by Vinyl Me, and they’re usually packaged with unique artwork and inserts. While Vinyl Me’s $27 a month price tag isn’t exactly cheap, it’s less than you might pay for these brand new pressings at a store.
So why not jump on the Vinyl Me bandwagon now? It’s a great way to expand your record collection with records that you won’t find locally, and it’d even make a great gift to a young family member.
For Health Nuts: Urthbox Snacks
Urthbox (pronounced “earth box” or “ərTH-bäks”) is a monthly snack subscription service. For a minimum of $17 a month, you get an assortment of healthy snacks delivered right to your door (with 7+ snacks a month for the cheapest plan).
While $17 sounds like a lot for “7+ snacks,” it’s a pretty decent deal. These aren’t Doritos, after all. They’re expensive snacks like Dang chips, cashews, and Neo organic energy drinks.
For All Things Nerdy: LOOTCRATE
Ah, the infamous LOOTCRATE. This is one of the best subscription boxes for geeks, nerds, and culture-vultures. Each LOOTCRATE comes with an assortment of shirts, buttons, and exclusive collectible items that every variety of geek can enjoy. You can even choose which flavor of LOOTCRATE you’d like to receive every month, with options for Anime boxes, gaming boxes, Marvel comic boxes, and even Hello Kitty boxes.
LOOTCRATE has a variety of differently priced subscription plans, but the basic plan (which comes with the basic LOOTCRATE box) is only $25 a month.
For a Fresh, Green Dorm: Cratejoy House Plant Box
A few months of confinement in a dorm is enough to drive anyone crazy. The plain white walls, the boring furniture, the residual smell of students’ past—it’s a wonder how anyone living in a dorm manages to turn in all of their assignments.
So why not liven up your dorm once a month with Cratejoy’s House Plant Box? Aside from looking pretty, houseplants can help keep you calm and focused, and they supposedly release a chemical element called oxygen that supports your basic bodily functions (it sounds strange, but that’s science).
The House Plant Box only costs $12 a month, and each box comes with a brand new houseplant, gardening tools, and instructions on how to care for your new best friend.
