Money Moral Dilemma: Is it 'morally wrong' to use student discounts aged 55?

NaughtiusMaximus

Good news - yes you are entitled to claim a student discount and it is morally perfectly acceptable
Bad news - your son's a prat

CultureVult

It’s no more morally wrong to use a discount that you are entitled than it is for large companies to try to snare lifetime loyalty by offering the discounts in the first place.

badlyironed

Of course it is not morally wrong! It is however very ageist of your son to think it is, merely because you are older than the other students!

_nate

Is it morally wrong to post idiotic questions which pose no dilemma whatsoever and waste the time of people who might prefer to ponder real conundrums?

_nate

HannahNP said:

GM_Bournemouth said:

If you are otherwise earning a living, then it is morally wrong to benefit from a scheme designed to help students who do not earn a living.

Exactly.  Discounts are designed to support students as most can't work full time and have to pay rent, food and a few pennies to have fun.  

So students with rich parents are morally wrong if they use student discounts. Really? Or don't you think that if the company offering the discount was doing so on grounds of poverty then they would call it a poverty discount, or a concession discount, or something else?

Xen6

I think this is more interesting if the OP is not a student but still uses discounts. Does that change things? IMO it doesn’t and shouldn’t...

I use any discount I can find, especially if shopping online (refer a friend, student, NHS, new customer, etc), regardless of whether it’s originally marketed at a specific group and whether or not I’m part of that group.
It’s only in the best interests of the company to make us bicker about whether it’s morally wrong to use a discount. Perhaps some people wouldn’t because there’s a sense of pride?

DPS-2016

You quality, you benefit.  Of course it's fine!  Doesn't matter what your age is .  

unification1

No issues with this at all! I'm not a student and I have a NUS/Totum card through my work who are an education provider. They actively list it as one of the benefits of working there. It's very handy for knocking 10% off at the Co-Op, Superdrug etc.
Just view it as a discount card like any other.

Indigo_and_Violet

I'm an older (mid-30s) PhD student. I get my fees paid and receive a monthly tax-free stipend that works out about equivalent to a job paying about £21k. I've previously worked for universities and so was able to access student discounts through having an educational email address even when I wasn't a student.
I had absolutely zero qualms about claiming discount from large retailers (e.g. Asos, Spotify) even when I wasn't a student. As others have mentioned, it's a sales inducement, not a rationed provision.
Now I am a student I continue to claim discounts from large retailers and sometimes from small retailers (e.g. the local coffee shop, or my hairdressers). I wouldn't have claimed from a small business before because I was getting paid a healthy wage, but now it genuinely does make a difference to my monthly budget and how often I can frequent them so it feels okay.
My partner and I had a long chat about claiming the 25% council tax discount. My understanding is that students don't pay this because it's assumed they have 'another home' elsewhere. This isn't the case for me as a PhD student. Also, our combined household income is good, our council was generally good and we both normally vote for parties that support greater funding for local government. However, during the process of moving our council ended up costing us several thousand pounds (its a long story) and since we had to do the paperwork for moving house anyway we've claimed the exemption. My wage assumes I don't pay council tax and I've made my peace with it. 

claireibicycle

your son is being ageist! if you're studying, even if only 2 hours, like you say there's then reading on that and coursework to do meaning you're most likely not working as much as you were (if you were), so less money and discounts welcome. But even you hadn't had a decrease in earnings due to being a student, you are still a legit student and should therefore take the discounts offered.  I'm 46 and a student undertaking an HND and i toitally take advantage of my discounts. If age was anything to do with the discounts, they'd put an age limit on the discount. go for it!