Ask Tufts students around campus what bank account they have, and many of them will say Fleet/Bank of America. One reason is that the Fleet ATMs are readily available in the campus center.
Many students may also be choosing Fleet/Bank of America, however, because of its free checking (for the first year), which is designed to cater to students. Fleet/Bank of America represents a new trend of companies catering toward college students, giving them far more options and better deals to choose from.
According to brandchannel.com, "millions of college students across the U.S .[are] being targeted by more and more of what can only be called traditional major marketers: automakers such as Volkswagen and Honda, entertainment brands including MTV and Playboy and communications brands including Sprint PCS."
For example, several recent advertisements for Sprint are specifically tailored to college students: one advertisement takes place in a sorority, and another is in a fraternity.
According to Emily Durand, a lecturer at the ExCollege, companies in competitive markets tend to "follow each other very closely in offering new features to gain market share." This year Durand is teaching a course titled: "Intellectual Property in Business and Society."
An example of this trend, after Citizens Bank began providing free checking to students, Fleet followed closely behind with its own student plan.
"I chose Fleet because it seemed big around here," freshman Jackie Silverman said.
Freshman Alyssa Walsh agreed, saying, "The free checking is definitely one of the reasons I chose Fleet."
All banks are eager to get the business of students. During orientation, freshmen are inundated with flyers offering free checking and other incentives. But banks are not the only companies that are catering to students.
Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless and Sprint PCS cellphone companies are all offering free "in" minutes, which allow people to speak free of charge with in their respective networks.
"I've had Verizon for about five years, but I started getting free 'in' minutes about two years ago," senior Jessica Angerson said.
"The free minutes are a really big incentive [to get Verizon]," she added. "Most of my friends have it."
So how do students know how to get the best deal possible? "If consumers read the fine print of offers like 'zero percent financing' or '1,000 free anytime minutes,' they can try to find the best deal and may take their business there," Durand said, "regardless of any 'loyalty' to a cable company or wireless provider."
Freshman Megan Keily says the same thing about Cingular. "It's great because I can talk to my family and friends for free, and they have a great long-distance plan," Keily said.
Video stores are also beginning to come out with deals that are highly attractive to college students. Blockbuster Video is now offering a deal similar to Netflix, where students can pay $20 a month and rent unlimited videos or DVDs over the internet.
Walsh is a prime example of how students are able to take advantage of these new deals. "I've been going to West Coast Video in Davis Square," she said. "Somebody told me about the Blockbuster deal, and I'm going to sign up for it now. I have to watch a lot of movies for class, and it will definitely save me money."
Tufts itself is entering the competition: this year, the Tufts Student Resources installed a machine in the campus center that allows students to rent DVDs. The charge is 99 cents plus tax, with a charge of $2.49 for every extra day.
In addition to being cheaper than any local movie rental store, the location is much more convenient for students who have limited time.
This copy-catting can get tricky. What protects companies' ideas? "Almost nothing - unless the company has invented an entirely new service," Durand said. "Netflix, the online DVD rental company, is a good example of this."
Netflix acquired a patent on its method of automatic, pre-ordered rentals using a web interface, so now it has the option to either stop or require payment from other retailers who offer online DVD rentals, such as Wal-Mart.
"Offers of extra cell phone minutes or other incentive gimmicks don't qualify as patentable 'business methods,' and so companies are free to rip one another off with impunity - which can be to the customer's advantage," Durand said.
Despite the benefits that result from companies competing for the dollars of college students, some students say they pay little attention to who offers better deals.
"I have Cingular because my family has it," sophomore Liz Manno said. "It's always worked for me, so I never bothered to switch it."
Manno is not alone: many students choose to stay on their family plan or to simply use whatever their parents have.
However, free minutes and free student checking are now so common that, regardless of choice, just about all students have access to them.
Other students also keep their home banks, which sometimes proves to be difficult. Freshman Matt Symer uses the Bank of New York.
"It's kind of annoying to have a bank that's not on campus because of the charges at the ATMs," he said. "But it would be pretty easy to switch if I wanted to - every bank has free checking."
Still, Symer will not be switching anytime soon. "I like my bank," he said.
