Dear beloved parents and families,
Welcome to Tufts! Whether this is your first or fourth Parents and Family Weekend visit, we hope you are taking your time to experience life on the Hill and see what your child has been up to in this beautiful fall weather.
This year, the Editorial Board has decided to provide a list of hidden gems of free resources and discounts that students can make use of. As the total cost of attendance has skyrocketed to $93,182 for first-years in the 2025–26 school year, we know you are looking for ways to save just a little bit more. Whether you are a student looking to get the most out of your Tufts experience or a frustrated parent trying to make sense of this hefty price, this article is for you!
- First, let’s talk about the Career Center. There is a Professional Development Fund that many students don’t know is available. It is a grant of up to $200 given to qualified students for costs associated with professional organization involvement, like student membership dues, conference registration and workshops, as well as purchases of business attire. You can only receive the stipend once, but it is a great opportunity to gain professional support!
- Career Lab drop-in hours are also offered at several locations (Joyce Cummings Center, Tsungming Tsu Complex, Dowling Hall, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University; check out their schedule here!), where students can come for resume and cover letter reviews, networking tips and job hunting advice across various fields, including engineering, tech, finance, consulting and the arts.
- At the Mayer Campus Center Information Booth, you can find many cool things to buy. Our favorite is the discounted AMC tickets you can buy for only $10!
- The Health Service also has many unexpected finds. If you are on the Tufts Student Health Insurance Plan, you are eligible for acupuncture, cupping and gua sha services through New England Integrated Health with no copay. Chiropractic services are also included for no additional charge. Simply book your appointment through the Tufts Health Service portal and head to 126 Professors Row!
- The Counseling and Mental Health Services center provides Mental Health Mini Grants of up to $500 for students interested in leading initiatives aimed at raising awareness and addressing mental health issues. Tufts also offers a free, four-week mindfulness course — a great way to learn how to offset academic and personal stress.
- For movie lovers, we encourage you to take advantage of the free Kanopy subscription and make use of JumboSearch, where you can search the title of the film you want to see: Click on “Resource Type” then select “Video Recordings.” Chances are, you will be able to find some great films!
- Tufts also makes transportation safe and easy. The Safe Ride Service offers free Lyft rides for students traveling between campus locations and into surrounding neighborhoods at times when they feel unsafe traveling by other means. There is also a Stop & Shop grocery shuttle that departs from the Campus Center every Saturday at hourly intervals, providing convenience to students who cook on their own or just simply want to go shopping. You can also borrow bikes at the Tisch Library circulation desk.
- Through Tufts Dining, you can also get a free Grubhub+ student membership that applies $0 delivery fee on certain qualified off-campus deliveries. The best part is, you can order with JumboCash!
- Speaking of JumboCash, it is mindblowing how many popular off-campus vendors accept them. Here are some places we’d love you to know: Tasty Cafe & Kitchen, Davis Square CVS, Davis Square H Mart, Davis Square Gong Cha, Campus Mini Mart, Tufts Convenience Store and Picante Taqueria. See the full list here!
- Mango Languages, free through Tisch Library, provides language learning courses and resources for over 70 languages. Whether you’re looking to extend your Duolingo learning, fulfill your Tufts foreign language requirements, complete your eight-semester international relations language requirement or simply love another language, we believe it will be a great platform to supplement your learning!
- If you take the MBTA Red Line down, you will be able to visit every museum at Harvard — the Harvard Art Museums, the Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, the Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments — all for free!
- The Swipe It Forward program, funded through the generous donations of Tufts-meal-plan-havers, grants up to 15 free meal swipes per semester to students who are having difficulty finding what to eat. If you are no longer on a meal plan, this can be a great resource for you. If you are on a meal plan, specifically the 400-swipe one, this would also be great for you — donate some! (Let’s be honest, you won’t finish all 400!)
- And lastly, as a newspaper ourselves, we would like to highlight the free news subscriptions offered through the Tisch Library: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and even The Boston Globe (in the form of a daily PDF)! Having news literacy and staying informed is extremely crucial, so be sure to take advantage of these resources!
So, as you enjoy Parents and Family Weekend and take in the view from the Hill, we hope you now feel slightly more assured that there are some perks to paying Tufts tuition, outside of just the ability to call the Hill home. We hope to see every student make the most of the benefits given to them as much as possible!
Warmly,
The Daily’s Editorial Board
