Archive for the ‘onSavings’ Category

Just Around the Corner: The Seaport Deli

Sunday, November 24th, 2024

By Aidann Gia

Enter the back of the deli to find a wide range of snacks and pantry staples.

The Seaport Deli, a modest corner store near Pace University, offers an abundance of pastries, sandwiches, and other affordable conveniences for tourists and locals alike. With well-stocked shelves and diverse snack options, the deli caters to hungry students seeking pantry staples and Financial District regulars looking for a quick bite. Its seating area provides a cozy space for customers to unwind, chat, and enjoy freshly prepared meals enticingly displayed behind glass.

Nadia Cook, a fellow Pace student, joined me for lunch at this local gem. We were greeted by an enthusiastic team of employees behind the counter, skillfully assembling sandwiches for a bustling lunch-hour crowd while maintaining cheerful, welcoming smiles. Their friendly banter and lighthearted jokes added to the deli’s authentic community charm. Toward the back, the store opens into a dining area and a section for browsing unique beverages, classic snacks, and basic cooking items, making the Seaport Deli a one-stop shop for meals and groceries.

Our weekday lunch included tea, chips, and paninis. I chose a peach oolong tea, jalapeño chips, and the Italian panini, while Nadia opted for a white mango tea, sour cream and onion chips, and the Oven Gold panini. These flavorful meals, paired with delicately sweet beverages, were the perfect midday pick-me-up after our long classes.

Our filling lunch in-between classes and meetings.

“The portions are great! For my first Italian panini, it was pretty good. If you like paninis, they have a lot of options,” Nadia noted. “I also liked how the store had a lot of different varieties of food, whether it’s snacks or sandwiches.”

The Italian panini featured tender ham and melted cheese layered with a generous spread of pesto, delivering a savory punch. The golden, perfectly toasted bread enhanced the flavor, making each bite satisfying. Paired with the tangy kick of my chips and the refreshing chilled tea, it was an excellent option for a quick but hearty meal.

For Pace students and Financial District professionals seeking a convenient and budget-friendly meal, the Seaport Deli is a true gem. Located just steps from Pace’s 151 Williams Street building, it offers freshly prepared options, from filling paninis to ice-cold drinks, all at affordable prices. Skip the chains and enjoy quality, community-based meals that won’t break the bank—perfect for students on a budget.

Thanks to a partnership with Campus Clipper, the Seaport Deli offers a 10% discount to university students, faculty, and staff with a valid ID.

Use this coupon at checkout!


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Cafe Patoro: A Brazilian Twist to Coffee

Friday, October 25th, 2024
The festive menu and pastry display.

By: Aidann Gia

Nestled in the charming Seaport District, Cafe Patoro is a hidden gem known for its hand-rolled pão de queijo—Brazilian gluten-free cheese breads. This quaint cafe offers a diverse selection of sweet pastries, savory dishes, and expertly crafted beverages. The intimate space is made inviting by the friendly baristas who greet customers warmly. The cushy coffee shop, even when bustling with the diverse range of New Yorkers moseying in-and-out, feels welcoming with their autumnal decor and festive charm.

My roommate, Shannon Conner, and I visited to experience the noteworthy delights our neighborhood has swooned for. After spending some time admiring the tempting array of pastries on display, we placed our order. The staff, who appeared to know many of the regular patrons, further added to the cafe’s community feel. Conveniently located just a short walk from our campus, we found the price of $10 for a dozen pão de queijo to be a reasonable price, especially with the added benefit of a student discount.

“Considering they’re not overly priced to begin with, and if you add your discount for students in the area, it’s a really generous deal,” Conner noted. 

We nestled into our corner seats with a large iced cappuccino served with oat milk, an iced chai substituted with almond milk, an almond croissant, a pain au chocolat, a pesto and prosciutto pão de queijo, a guava jam cornbread, a Brazilian carrot cake, and servings of their jalapeño, everything-seasoned, and original pão de queijo. This impressive selection showcased flavors of Brazil, refined to perfection in the heart of New York City.

Our delicious shared breakfast selection.

The gluten-free guava cornbread, toasted to perfection on the outside and moist on the inside, was a standout. Lightly sweet yet dense, it became our favorite of the day—its gluten-free nature a surprising detail we would not have noticed otherwise. The Brazilian carrot cake, with its smooth, fluffy texture and subtle fall flavors, paired beautifully with a rich chocolate ganache.

Among the savory options, the pesto and prosciutto pão de queijo stood out for its balance of sweet fig jam, zesty pesto, and tangy arugula. Out of the three pão de queijo flavors we tried, the everything-seasoned version was the favorite.

”It’s like a cheesy, everything bagel, but better,” Conner

remarked. “It’s less dense than a bagel, it’s lighter and less doughy.”

The pão de queijo was delectable—its stretchy, cheesy texture highlighted by a perfect balance of cheddar, parmesan, and tapioca flour. Our meal was deeply satisfying, as it was evidently made up of quality and thoughtfully prepared delights. It’s rare to find a local spot that feels like a treat and is budget friendly. Cafe Patoro is offering students a 25% discount when they purchase a bag of pão de queijo, alongside any handcrafted drink. 

Though even with affordable options nearby, it is important to note that not all students have the flexibility and privilege to dine out. The Pace University campus food pantry is one local resource for students facing food insecurity, providing access to groceries and a support system. Students can receive help without needing to sacrifice meals to make rent or pay for textbooks.

As students, we’re often juggling adulthood, wellbeing, internships, jobs, and school. Finding those local deals and campus resources help make the college experience more manageable, and even more enjoyable.


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How To Exercise When You Don’t Want to

Thursday, July 25th, 2024

One of the most challenging things I’ve faced as a working-class college student is sedentarism. Although my body is in constant motion between my five courses and thirty-two-hour work week, none is deliberate enough to constitute exercise—although the exhaustion my body feels every day would make one think otherwise. Additionally, with each passing semester, I have less free time to work out. As I ventured into my fitness journey last year during summer break, I learned that my mental health also affected my body on a physical level. On one hand, lacking the will to move my body was a sign of mental exhaustion, while on the other, not moving my body because of said mental state made me stiff and weak, affecting my physical health. It is a hard-to-break cycle I’ve been dealing with my whole life, but its effects have intensified since the start of my college journey. 

It doesn’t help that I really dislike exercising. Many say that it’s an enjoyable activity, and perhaps it is for them. For me, it is dreadful and annoying from beginning to end. Last year I worked out rigorously for four months and it never got better. Sure, I loved how my body felt after the fact but while I was doing it? I don’t think so. Again, this is just my experience because I know many people who love exercising. I really wish I was like them, but I am not, so we must work with what we have. Thus, for us lazy folks (and maybe a bit neuro-spicy folks), I have put together a guide to exercise when we don’t want to because, well—I’m sorry to break it to you—we need to move our bodies to maintain physical and mental health. So, here it goes:

Image Credit: https://www.thenortherner.com/news/2020/02/25/balancing-a-healthy-diet-as-a-college-student/
  1. When you wake up, before leaving your bed, stretch your muscles. There are plenty of stretches one can do in bed and it is important to develop flexibility to avoid muscle injury. The activity can last as much time as you have available, but it should be for a minimum of ten minutes. 
  2. When you are reading class materials, don’t sit down. Adults should take at least 10,000 steps each day. So, use your reading time to walk around your home, neighborhood, or campus to get them in without even thinking about it–audiobooks are also great for this. The activity is not exhaustive, and it is beneficial to boost your stamina. Even I, who hates exercise, enjoyed this one. 
  3. Similarly, when you are typing tirelessly on your computer, spend some time standing up. Find a place to put your laptop or monitor higher up so you can work while on your feet. This one is trickier because you may not have the space to do this, so if you don’t, try to do seated stretches to release shoulders and lower back tension. 
  4. Find an activity that requires you to move your body and that you enjoy. Here is where you must have slightly more discipline to try different things. Yoga, dancing, martial arts, hiking, biking, and many others are activities that do not necessarily feel like exercise, but they are. If you hate every single one of them, that’s okay. You can try the previous steps. 
  5. Lastly, surround yourself with people who love exercising. I hate to admit that it can work. They can be good motivators, and since they have your well-being at heart, they usually hold you accountable when you don’t move your body enough. And if you are a bit competitive, they might inspire you to train more! It is always nurturing to surround yourself with different perspectives.
As you can see, some days it is harder than others to just walk enough.

And there you have it: five simple steps to improve your energy and flexibility. Although moving your body is essential, the most important thing to practice during your college journey is compassion. We are often so hard on ourselves because college takes our time to do things we enjoy, but we need to accept that our careers are demanding and try our best anyway. There are weeks where I don’t follow any of the steps and my body surely pays the price, but I don’t beat myself too hard on it because I must also protect my mind. I hope you do as well.


Talking about surrounding yourself with motivating people, use this discount for training packages! Remember the importance of moving your body.

By Roxanna Cardenas

Roxanna is a Venezuelan writer living in New York City. Her works include essays, poetry, screenplays, and short stories. She explores fiction and non-fiction genres, with a special interest in horror and sci-fi. She has an A.A. in Writing and Literature and is working on her B.A. in English with a Creative Writing concentration.


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Chapter Five: The Comfort of Home-Cooked Meals

Monday, July 15th, 2024

One of the biggest benefits I think I had of staying home for college was and is the home-cooked meals. Being a New York native, it is par for the course to eat out on your breaks in college or during work. However, rarely do I hear about the college students or New Yorkers who bring home-cooked meals (or the occasional lunchable—no shame!) with them to college or work. I don’t think I would have survived overspending on eating out as an unemployed college student. Even once there was money flow, I had to properly budget my money if I was to survive New York City’s living costs however long I needed to.

The biggest expense after rent and utilities is food, of course. As a single woman, if I didn’t still live with my parents, it would have cost me thousands more monthly to live a comfortable life in New York City. I have heard plenty of horror stories about college students who either dorm or live off-campus forced to live paycheck to paycheck trying to decide whether to use their little money left on rent (or tuition/loan payments) or food. If there is any advice I can give, it’s to save as much as you can if your family is willing to financially support you. If not, split your payments with roommates if possible. Life is so much better when you don’t have to be hyper-independent.

As much as I really wanted to move out of my parent’s two-bedroom apartment in the Bronx at 19, I knew I didn’t have a plan in mind. And I hadn’t yet developed trust in my ability to feed myself without my mother on hand. From that point to now, I have understood the importance of conserving money, energy, and time. It might be true that you have to spend money to make money, but you also have to make your money grow and last enough so that you don’t have to work your entire life. Start through being mindful of what isn’t worth your “MET” (money, energy, and time), and assess how much of your MET is being wasted. Then, invest in people, places, and things that will maximize your MET.

Food is fuel. And given how quickly time elapses, food should be as healthful and last as much as your money is making it. That’s why buying in bulk is the best. The less grocery runs you have to make after still having a steady supply of food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and other household items needed for daily or weekly use, the more money, energy, and time you save every month. Money isn’t just important in this equation—the more time you invest into your health, the more time and energy you will have to live your life.

Half-eaten mac & cheese my brother made me.

Home-cooked meals are exactly one of those things that will maximize your MET. According to an Aetna article, home-cooked meals are proven to be healthier than takeout meals, giving us a lower calorie intake, a more health-conscious mentality, and mental productivity. As a New Yorker, home-cooked meals have brought me closer to a slow-living lifestyle I would like to live more of if and when I decide to move out of the city. Eating out (and going fast in general) may get us many of the things we want and need at a convenient speed, but constantly engaging in consumptive habits will at some point remind us we need to slow down.

My college campus was one of the few places where I felt I could slow down. Even while under the social pressure to move and act fast, there were always designated spaces to be in stillness and be encouraged to not over-consume in body, mind, and spirit. Making use of the college food pantry (and pre-made lunches), the shuttle bus, counseling services, the college library, and more are great investments towards getting more for less, and building a life of growth instead of consumption.


The deli always comes in clutch! Save on groceries with 10% off!

By Daeli Vargas

Daeli is a recent graduate from the City College of New York with a BA in English and a publishing certificate. She is from the Bronx and is very passionate about all things literary. She hopes one day to publish many books of her own and share her passions worldwide.


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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College Student Grocery Haul @ LifeThyme Market

Saturday, November 19th, 2022
Watch NYU student Senaida shop for organic groceries at LifeThyme Natural Market on 8th St. and 6th Ave.

While shopping, try the coffee and muffin combo at LifeThyme!

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Please Handle With Care

Saturday, August 27th, 2022

Whenever we are shipping or traveling with something fragile, we always label it as such and make sure that the item is handled with the utmost care. Why do we so seldom treat ourselves with the same caution? Items are replaceable, but we—as I hope you know—are not.

I’ve covered a lot of different topics throughout my writing about the COVID-19 pandemic—from being sent home from college, to current events, to relationships, and everything else in between. Truthfully, I could probably write about all the other ways that this unprecedented era of human history intersected with our normal lives, but almost anything you can think of would lead you right back here to a discussion of mental health and self-care—perhaps the greatest lesson that COVID may have had to offer.

Image credit: Pine County, MN, Department of Health and Human Services

Mental health wasn’t really something that I thought deeply about until I got to college. When I look back on high school and think about a lot of my habits—burning the midnight oil to finish my homework, sacrificing sleep, and generally spreading myself too thin—I can’t help but cringe. We’re taught that this is what it means to “work hard,” but it comes at a pretty high cost, especially when you’re young. No one should have to feel like that is the way you need to operate, no matter what stage of life you’re at. You are not the work you do or the grades that you get; your worth is far beyond that, which is something I try to remind myself when I start to believe otherwise. 

I still find myself exhibiting many of these behaviors in college, and it wasn’t until this point in my life where I started to feel physiological responses to my stress or anxiety—heart beating too fast, thoughts racing out of control, worrying about everything. And most of the time, I was concerned more so with how it would affect me academically, not physically or mentally. Yikes.

The pandemic really changed my perspective on mental health, not only showing how important it is to prioritize all aspects of your health, but also pointing out how many of the things we accepted as normal before COVID were deeply flawed. For instance, growing up, it was always expected that you would go to school or to work even if you were not feeling well. If you had a cold, you had to stick it out. If you didn’t sleep well, were feeling overwhelmed, or were burnt out, you had to find a way to get through the day. But now that we have lived through the onset of a deadly, infectious disease, we realize just how ridiculous this kind of behavior is. At school, more and more professors in their syllabi are now encouraging us not to come to class if we feel any inkling of an illness to make sure that we don’t spread it around to others. There is no good reason to force ourselves into doing things when we are not at our best, a mindset we should have adopted long ago.

Now, a lot of my professors have also added mental health provisions to their syllabi, encouraging us to take a day off class if we are struggling mentally and can’t engage with the class. Our student government leaders are pushing to make missing class for mental health reasons count as excused absences. In 2021, a student organization that carries out the mission of the Bandana Project, a national mental health awareness and suicide prevention campaign, was formed on our campus, seeking to provide students with resources for and breaking the stigma around mental health—all it takes is a green bandana to show your support and willingness to engage in the campaign. All of these changes ensure that we never have to feel that our academic career takes precedence over our wellbeing. At the end of the day, we’re at college to learn, not to burn ourselves out.  

Image credit: The Bandana Project
Be sure to check out this amazing organization!

Over the last couple of years, a lot of different stressors in our lives have converged at once: the spread of COVID-19, long periods of isolation, our nation in turmoil, and the general uncertainty of everything, while still having to go to college either online or in person when it became safe again. We are still dealing with the long-term consequences of all of these things, and the pandemic still isn’t really over. But we are all human and we can only expect so much out of ourselves, so if COVID did one thing for us, it was to force us to slow down and reconfigure our thinking to gear ourselves toward what is really important: taking care of ourselves.

So, remember to listen to what your body or your mind is saying—you are the best person to judge your limits and realize what you need at any given moment. Do the things that you enjoy doing, make you happy, and help you to heal—read a book, do a face mask, chill out (just to name a few of my go-to strategies). Totally cliché, but life really is all about balance. It takes effort to unlearn all of the things ingrained into our brains, something that I have still been struggling with, but at the end of the day, just please handle yourself with care.

As I said with my previous chapter regarding relationships, it should not have taken a global pandemic just to learn that we have to take care of ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally. But I suppose it is better late than never.

A great way to practice self-care is to treat yourself in the health and beauty sphere, so be sure to use this coupon at Trinity’s Touch for all your brow, lash, and skincare needs!

By: Katie Reed

Katie Reed is a senior at Villanova University studying English and Communication. She is in utter disbelief that she just admitted to being a senior. She loves to read, but has made barely a dent in the increasingly large pile of books on her bookshelf that she told herself she would read this summer. She hopes to enter a career in the editing and publishing industry.


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services. At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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“You’ve Got a Friend in Me” (As Long as You’re Vaccinated)

Monday, August 22nd, 2022

As you get older, you learn a lot about relationships, be they familial, platonic, romantic, professional, or anything in between. High school is where you think you hit your stride in this department, since you start to become more independent and have many more choices to make; you are both physically and metaphorically in the driver’s seat more than you have been in your whole life. Making friends is also super convenient, as most of the people you are close with live no more than ten miles from your house and you see them every day at school. Minimal effort required.

But then once you graduate and enter your twenties, you realize there’s a reason that sitcoms focus on this age group—it’s the time in your life where you’re constantly trying to find your way in the world and relate to the people around you. All of your friends and family (probably) don’t live around the corner anymore, so it’s on you to forge those new connections. College plays a big role in this growing process because never in your life will you have as much freedom, but also as much confusion, as you do in those four years.

Freshman year of college is a particularly unique time because it feels like all the different realms of your life are trying to collapse in on each other. You’re trying to keep in touch with your friends from high school, you’re trying to make sure your family doesn’t feel isolated, and all the while, you’re trying to make new friends in a completely new environment. Being from Massachusetts and going to school at Villanova, I felt far removed from everyone I had grown up with, which was both a little bit sad and exciting. On one hand, I was wishing that I had chosen a school closer to home so I could cling to that sense of familiarity, and on the other, I was happy to be somewhere that felt completely my own where I could push myself outside of my comfort zone. After the first semester, I was feeling good about the friends that I was making both inside and outside of my dorm, and I felt like I was finally starting to see this new place as my home.

One such friend: my roommate of four years who recently came to visit me in MA over the summer. Shout out to any fellow Pirate’s Cove mini-golf enthusiasts.

Then, you know, this cute little thing called COVID-19 came along, and it became a rather tumultuous time in our collective sitcom eras. Less laugh tracks, more laments.

I started to wonder what would happen to those relationships I had been cultivating those first two semesters—would they survive a global pandemic? When we came back to school (at that point—if we came back to school at all) how would things be different from the first time I saw my peers? And what would happen to the people I was friends with from my town, where even the ten-mile radius felt so far away during quarantine? Everything was so uncertain, and those first few months of the pandemic were some of the loneliest months of my life. Stuck in my house, not able to see extended family members, high school friends, or college friends. But maintaining relationships and keeping people who are important to you in your life takes effort, and this period of our lives was perhaps the greatest test of who you would remain close with and who you might unfortunately grow apart from.

The rules of relationships also seemed to be changing to align with the health crisis we were living through. I was always incredibly nervous about COVID, both contracting and spreading it, so I took every precaution seriously to minimize putting myself and my loved ones at risk. When the spread began to slow and we could start seeing people outside of quarantine, the most important thing for me was to make sure their boundaries were respected. Are they okay hanging out with no masks? Would they prefer to be outside where we could socially distance? Would it be easier to do something or go somewhere that required wearing masks so we wouldn’t even have to debate it? It was great when vaccines started rolling out and we were able to better protect ourselves, but these questions never really went away. Ironically, despite being very cautious, last winter I still got one of my best friends sick after texting her that “I only have a little bit of a stuffy nose, I definitely don’t think it’s COVID” before hanging out with her. Guess what it was!

The text message that did not age well.

Though I would never be upset or mad with someone who accidentally exposed me to COVID and got me sick, I still felt a lot of guilt over just the potential of getting anyone sick. My friend was very reassuring about the whole thing, so it helped to ease the burden of what I was feeling. 

Maintaining relationships during COVID was difficult to say the least, but it taught me a lot about how you should treat people. From my perspective, the two most important parts of a relationship of any kind are respect and trust. Many people had different comfort levels when it came to the pandemic, so it was necessary to respect when people maybe didn’t want to hang out or wanted to take an abundance of caution to make sure that everyone felt safe. We had to trust that those close to us were wearing their masks, not going to unnecessary “super-spreader” events, and were getting vaccinated when they could. And ultimately, when those around us were sick, we needed to be supportive of them and do our best to be there for them.

These are of course not lessons that are exclusive to a pandemic but have instead been strengthened by it. In fact, it should not have taken a pandemic for us to figure out that we need to be kind and considerate of others, but nonetheless, here we are. And after all of those precautions, the COVID scares within networks of people, and the months of general struggle, I’ve come to realize that what I look for the most in relationships is being around people who make me feel comfortable. I strive to be that person for others, and I would encourage you to do the same, as it will go a long way in building meaningful connections with people.

Hopefully Randy Newman would agree.

Nothing says friendship like paintball, so be sure to check out this coupon!

By: Katie Reed

Katie Reed is a senior at Villanova University studying English and Communication. She is in utter disbelief that she just admitted to being a senior. She loves to read, but has made barely a dent in the increasingly large pile of books on her bookshelf that she told herself she would read this summer. She hopes to enter a career in the editing and publishing industry.


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services. At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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“You Online Shop Too Much”-My Mom, Probably

Friday, August 5th, 2022

If online shopping is so bad, then why is it so relaxing? Why is it so satisfying to fill my carts with all of the items that I want, knowing full well that I can’t afford the thousands of dollars of merchandise? Why does it bring me comfort to organize wish lists with things that I will probably never get around to buying? These are the million-dollar questions, I know.

In my first semester at college, I was probably ordering new clothes once a month. It was so convenient to ship them to my dorm, and it’s always fun to get a package when you’re at school, even if you’re the one sending it. However, I do have a habit of ordering clothes just to return them in the next week. My mom considers this a bad habit, but I consider it being fiscally responsible and making sure to get my money back whenever I order something that I don’t like or don’t need. To each their own.

A very high-quality mirror selfie of me trying on clothes that I ordered online in my dorm. We do not have a full-length mirror, hence the standing on the chair. Have to get creative sometimes.

Once the pandemic hit, the term “retail therapy” seemed to take on a whole different meaning. It was one of several ways to pass time during our days of isolation, but it also seemed like a way to stay connected with the outside world and brighten up your life by getting something new or treating yourself in whatever form that takes—whether it was new clothes (ironic, considering the furthest place I was going on an average day was to the kitchen downstairs), a new book to read, or a new appliance to try out. Much more convenient and safer than going shopping in-person, and much less work and cognitive energy being spent.

But, like many things in life, online shopping is not immune to corrupt business practices, ones that of course flourish in our capitalist system; ones that not only take advantage of employees that work in factories with egregious conditions and contribute to environmental destruction, but also manipulate us as consumers because they offer services that we are compelled to utilize.

Take Amazon, an example I’m sure we are all intimately familiar with. As a college student, Amazon is a lifesaver. Need a book for class immediately? It could come the next day. Need back to school supplies but don’t have access to transportation? Order it online and just walk to your mailroom to pick it up. Want to buy a coffee machine but don’t know which ones are the best to buy? Look at the reviews and have it in two days. It’s easy, it’s quick, it’s affordable, and the products are usually very good quality.  

The cost, of course, is more than just the price of the item. The cost is that you are compelled to take part in a system that is as dangerous as it is convenient: employees are being pushed to the brink to work faster in unsafe working conditions, they are kept in the dark about COVID-19 and put at a greater risk for it, they work more than 60 hours a week, and they have to commute two or three hours to get to work, just to name a few of the many issues cited by Justine Medina and Brett Daniels, who are members of the organizing committee for Amazon’s Labor Union in Staten Island.

The same thing goes with fast fashion, “the mass production of cheap, poor quality, disposable clothing.” College students are very susceptible to fast fashion from companies like Shein, who take advantage of a person’s inclination to spend less money while still trying to keep up to date with fast-evolving trends. We see people our age everyday get on TikTok to take us through their shopping hauls, and it makes us want to go out and spend our money to do the same. Shein though, unlike Amazon, usually does not have as good-quality products and is very hit or miss, which personally gives me more of a reason not to shop there. I ordered from Shein one time freshman year, and out of the three items I kept, I have worn one of them exactly once. That is, of course, a perk of fast fashion—the clothes are so cheap that if you don’t wear them, you don’t feel guilty because it didn’t cost you very much. But, that’s also why the cycle is so hard to break, as people are more inclined to dispose of their clothes faster (not usually through sustainable methods) and simply order more.

I want to be abundantly clear that this post isn’t meant for me to sit here on a pedestal, tell you where you can and can’t shop, or make you feel bad. It’s more meant for myself—and hopefully others who feel similarly—to think through these pervasive problems and wonder where we can go from here. I still shop at Amazon and I don’t blame people who order from Shein because truly we are all just doing the best we can to try to save money and navigate a system that is inherently unfair at every step of the way.

I am caught between two schools of thought—on one hand, maybe individuals can try to be more aware of where they are shopping from and shop more sustainably. There are many good options, with the best probably being thrifting your items. Another good solution is to support more small businesses as opposed to large corporations, such as spending money on Redbubble (there is a student discount available!) or Etsy. I personally like buying clothes from American Eagle and Aerie, and I know they are beginning to make more products that are sustainable and eco-friendly.

Image credit: https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/sustainable-fashion

On the other hand, I also think that it is unfair to put the pressure on the individual and not the company—because yes, you could do your research and that would be great, but often we just don’t have the time or energy (especially during a global pandemic), and habits are hard to break. It feels like a losing battle, made worse by living through a time where we rely greatly on online shopping and companies like Amazon or Shein to get us the items we need in a safe, efficient manner. 

We debated this issue a lot in my ethics class last semester, and I still don’t really have an answer. I suppose the lesson here is to choose your battles when you can and recognize that making these choices can be difficult when there are many different factors at play and you aren’t in a position where you can spend more money on more expensive yet sustainable brands. Hopefully someday we can get to a place where the onus is not on us to do better, but for companies and brands to both recognize and actually care about the hurt they cause to both human beings and the environment, instead of just worrying about profits.

The good news is companies like the Campus Clipper are always looking for ways to help students save money and shop locally. For instance, if you’re looking to save 10% on art supplies, check out the coupon below and order from Blick Art Materials!


By: Katie Reed

Katie Reed is a senior at Villanova University studying English and Communication. She is in utter disbelief that she just admitted to being a senior. She loves to read, but has made barely a dent in the increasingly large pile of books on her bookshelf that she told herself she would read this summer. She hopes to enter a career in the editing and publishing industry.


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services. At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Chapter Five: Looming Graduation & Lingering Uncertainty

Friday, September 10th, 2021

In my previous chapter, I discussed the importance of being intentional with your time. I only began to realize this in senior year– far later than I would have preferred. I spent a good chunk of my undergraduate years suffocated by insecurity, which prevented me from pursuing certain social opportunities. Once I gained at least some confidence (it’s a lifelong process, isn’t it?) I began to go out more with friends, and I wasn’t overly concerned with how I looked or how much I ate that day. Graduation time crept up on me as I realized I only had a few months of school left. 

Then, COVID-19 upended everyone’s lives. Amidst all of the existential dread of graduating and parental pressure, I decided to take the LSAT in the fall with the aim of becoming an environmental lawyer. (This seems to be a right of passage for humanities majors.) When I took the actual LSAT in September, it was far from reflecting the best score I had gotten in practice, and the kicker was that while it made me feel dumb, I didn’t want to be a lawyer anyway: I only wanted to be a better writer.

The reason I decided to pursue Media and Communication again was not only to have some closure after not being able to graduate in the traditional sense, but to do what I’ve always wanted to do: comedy. I am studying Communication because of the dual interest in politics and comedy that The Daily Show with Jon Stewart sparked in me in high school. After the 2016 election, I felt extremely anxious and decided to pivot explicitly toward politics for a few years after completing my first internship at a comedy club. 


Nikki Glaser performing at Gotham Comedy Club during my internship

I think I lost the plot along the way. I became embroiled in the world of politics, when that too never felt like the perfect fit for me. I applied to some Political Communication programs and, although I was accepted, I knew I wanted to go back to NYU. Of course it’s a very different conversation to have with your parents that you want to be a comedian, than the one about wanting to be a lawyer. But if the latter is a lie to yourself too, then why pursue it? 

School is a way to grow your network of relationships, and try new things within the support structure of academia. If you’re looking to pivot careers, especially in the middle of a pandemic, going back to school can be a good place to start, depending on your financial priorities. 


Fall near NYU Campus

There’s a really pretentious phrase I recently heard an actor say in an interview that I want to share: “Don’t act unless you have to.” I think you could apply this philosophy to a lot of jobs that may involve constant rejection and (job) insecurity, even though it is pretentious. It took me a long time to finally decide to pursue comedy for myself, which I’ve always loved above all else, and which catalyzed my passion for other fields like public service. But what if I fail? That would be embarrassing. Nonetheless, I now feel that I have to try anyway because I already regret not starting comedy when I was younger. I don’t regret my years in politics (which frankly gave me great comedic material) because I still felt a sense of purpose, but that sense has been relatively fulfilled. 

What I hear in “Don’t act unless you have to,” is that if you know you will be rejected often and are going against all odds, but still want to pursue a passion that people scoff at or cringe at behind your back, then you have to do it. For yourself. 

For me, that’s comedy. What do you have to do? And who cares how long it’ll take! When it comes time to think about what comes after college, you may be overwhelmed by your options. My advice is to consider: what’s your comedy? What do you have to do?

My advice for figuring it out:

  • Don’t wait until Senior Year to have a social life; build your network of relationships professionally and personally 
  • Consider what you love doing above all else, if money weren’t an issue
    • You can do this thing as a hobby, and perhaps work up to doing something professionally if appropriate, or you may prefer to keep it as a hobby
    • Your life should not be centered purely around autopilot labor for income
  • You will be uncertain about pursuing certain passions until you actually start pursuing them; the “what ifs” will weigh on you in a few years so get ahead of them
    • And it is *never* too late or too soon to pivot professionally if you crave something new
  • Good luck!!!


By Anna Matefy

Anna Matefy recently graduated from NYU with a Bachelor’s in Media, Culture, and Communication. She has been working in politics for the past few years, and wants to transition into a career in media entertainment/comedy. She will be attending NYU as a graduate student in Media beginning in 2021.


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Chapter Four: Comedic & Cultural Entertainment in NYC

Friday, September 3rd, 2021

My mental health preservation efforts do not stop with good food and exercise, but emphatically extend to comedy. An overarching theme of what I write about regards being intentional with your “self,” your time, and what you enjoy. I love going to comedy clubs, watching late night shows (from home or in-person through the iota lottery system), seeing movies (which are cheaper earlier in the day/as matinees), and going to museums.

Having gone to college, I know that the experience can be very overwhelming, especially if you are in a new (and big) city. I wanted to attend NYU because I dreamed of working in political satire, which remains true. I knew New York City was where political satire thrived, and that’s where I wanted to be. Still, although it was my choice to ultimately move away from home, I had no idea where to begin when it came to actually exploring the city. 

So, I started with late night, since that’s where I enjoy my favorite political comedians including Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, John Oliver (who is not technically “late night”), and Seth Meyers. If you simply Google the name of any of these people/shows along with “tickets,” you will find the link to sign up for the lottery to see them live. Through this free lottery system I have been able to see Sam Bee once, and Colbert twice. These were incredibly emotional and fun experiences for me, not only because comedy has been my passion since childhood, but also because the reason I chose to study Media was so that I could work in comedy entertainment. Because of Jon Stewart’s influence as a political satirist, I even worked in proper politics for a few years after 2016. 


A picture from when a friend and I had the opportunity to see Colbert live.

Aside from going to free late night shows, I love going to comedy shows. One of the best times in my life was when I had the opportunity to intern at Gotham Comedy Club, which auspiciously entailed me getting to watch two to four hours of stand-up for free every week while helping post promotions to social media. Being mindful of some age restrictions, there is usually a minimum cover fee at comedy clubs, so your evening can get pricey, but it is absolutely worth going to at least one to experience the NYC stand-up comedy scene. 

My best friend and I felt that we didn’t always make the most of our time in undergrad, so we made a point to go to as many shows and events as we could in senior year. We saw one of our favorite stand-ups (Nate Bargatze) perform an hour-long special live, and we went to Broadway shows as well. There are often some form of student discounts available for Broadway, or even films, and colleges often send emails about such opportunities– so keep a lookout. 

Whatever your passions are outside of school, be intentional with making time for yourself. I had fun in school and enjoyed my classes, but a break can offer rejuvenation. When I felt inspired and/or didn’t have the time or resources to go see something, I took it upon myself to write my own comedy for fun– I have not yet gathered the courage to do an open mic myself, but my goal is to try soon. To mentally prepare, I just remind myself: it’s a right of passage for every comedian to bomb… right?!

For more “serious” cultural moments in NYC, I love visiting the Hayden Planetarium’s Space Theater at the American Museum of Natural History and watching their immersive mini-documentaries on Space projected onto a spherical dome above the audience. Museums in New York are plentiful, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), the Guggenheim, and my personal favorite: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). The MET has so many sections that I still haven’t seen. They also have seasonal or temporary exhibits, which are very novel. I visited just last week and they had a Dutch exhibit up, displaying multiple Rembrandts (which are very cool and sad).  


Marble statue of Orpheus visible from the back on “the Patio from the Castle of Vélez Blanco, 1506–15”

Whether you love comedy or not, there are  plenty of forms of entertainment in New York City, or surely wherever you are going to school. Colleges do a fantastic job of promoting discounted events, so keep an eye out in your emails and school bulletins for any opportunities. 

Ultimately, my advice is that you be intentional with your “self,” what you enjoy, and the time (off) that you have. 

For those seeking entertainment while in college:

  • Be intentional with your off-time; resting/relaxing can be achieved in other ways than just sitting at home
  • Colleges do a fantastic job of promoting discounted events, so check your emails and school bulletins for any opportunities/ find Campus Clipper on social media for coupons! 
  • Museums are always worth visiting; students usually receive significant discounts if not the “pay what you can” option (which can just be nothing)
  • NYC offers a lot of free entertainment, whether it means seeing a daytime talk show live,  SNL, or late night


By: Anna Matefy

Anna Matefy recently graduated from NYU with a Bachelor’s in Media, Culture, and Communication. She has been working in politics for the past few years, and wants to transition into a career in media entertainment/comedy. She will be attending NYU as a graduate student in Media beginning in 2021.


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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