JULIS NAVARRO
Staff Writer
Pepperdine students will receive a delightful surprise the next time they visit some of the nearby restaurants and retailers. With the recent launch of a discount program, called the Student Savings Club, Pepperdine students will receive discounts and specials at participating merchants just by showing their school ID cards.
Some of the restaurants and retailers included are: Giovanni’s Ristorante Italiano, Johnny Rockets, Subway, Malibu Gym, Budget Rent-A-Car of Malibu and Malibu Surf Shack.
Mills said he hopes more merchants will be added to the list.
SGA began the program at Pepperdine this semester. SGA representatives have been working on the project since spring of 2005.
“I think students will find the program very positive,” said Kevin Mills, SGA president, said. “It saves everyone money.”
Student Savings Club is a national program that works with local businesses to arrange discounts for college students, faculty and staff. In exchange for the partnership and exposure, the businesses pay the Student Savings Club a small annual fee for their services.
According to Marsha Hahn, chief operating officer of the Student Savings Club, the program has been around for 17 years. It started in the Pacific Northwest region with several schools and then had a major expansion in the Midwest, where many of their participating schools are located. More recently, particularly in the past year, schools in California have been joining, including several CSU’s and UC’s like CSU Fullerton and UC Irvine.
“It’s such a good benefit for students. There’s no cost for students to take advantage of it,” Hahn said. “It’s gathering interest as schools find out about it…. More people are joining.”
Mills said it took time for SGA to set up the program at Pepperdine because of the approval stages required through the administration. Since 2005, SGA and the Student Savings Club have been working together to provide a list of merchants willing to offer discounts. After the partnerships had been made, each local merchant also had to be approved by Pepperdine administration.
Hahn estimated that 15 to 20 percent of the potential merchants on the initial list put together by SGA have joined the program. “There’s always quite a few who aren’t ready to jump in. The first year, it’s always a bit smaller and it starts from there,” she said.
“If students have a recommendation, we will try to work with them to get it on the list,” he said.
Dustin Bancroft, who works part-time at the Malibu Surf Shack, said, “I think it’s a great opportunity to bring the community together and to get the students over here. It encourages them to get out and experience Malibu.” The students he encountered have been very happy to get the discounts, he said.
Another partner is Giovanni Mazzola from Giovanni’s Ristorante Italiano. Mazzola said the restaurant does not get as many Pepperdine students eating there as they would like, but he is happy with the discount program.
“I think it’s a good thing for the students, and it’s a good thing for the restaurant,” Mazzola said. “I’m a supporter of Pepperdine. We really like to be helpful in anyway we can, and I thought it was a good way to help.”
Mazzola added that, surprisingly, not many students are taking advantage of the discount. Giovanni’s offers the highest restaurant discount, 25 percent off lunch and dinner.
Some students, however, are not completely satisfied with the discounts available through Student Savings Club. Senior Matt Graves said that during his recent visit to Subway, he was disappointed to find the 10 percent discount was applicable only to his sandwich and not to his entire meal.
“I didn’t see anything [on the list] that made me think, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool,’” he said.
Lauren Waugh, a junior class senator, said she thinks the discount program is a good idea as long as the partnerships are from places students actually frequent.
“Pepperdine students aren’t really the type to clip coupons, so I don’t know if this will really take off,” Waugh said. “But it hasn’t really been publicized yet, maybe later when it’s better established.”
Student Savings Club Program Coordinator Jeff Merriman said he has been coordinating with SGA to put together ideas of how to publicize. They plan on setting up a Facebook group to get the word out about Student Savings Club.
01-25-2007
