Navigating Camrose on a Student Budget

by JENNIFER HA

We’ve all heard the promotional spiel: attending Augustana can equal smaller class sizes, bigger opportunities, additional scholarships, and overall a really amazing liberal arts education. What the brochures neglect to mention, however, are the perks that being a Viking has for your wallet. Compared to living in a major city, Camrose offers cheaper rent, less mileage on your car, and overall lower living costs. Furthermore, the city has several spots that offer bargains on special nights or just for students—meaning your study breaks can feature more than just instant noodles and your roommate’s Netflix subscription.

Daily Deals

The Canadian Brewhouse: From cheap tacos on Tuesdays to a full-on shrimp and steak dinner on Saturdays, the Brewhouse offers special-priced food specials on every day of the week—with drink specials to match!

Mr. Mike’s Steakhouse Casual: On weekdays, Mr. Mike’s has happy hour from 3pm to 6pm, meaning appetizers as cheap as $4 additional to awesome drink specials. Also, the restaurant has “Lodge Night” on Thursdays after 8pm, where dozens of items are half-priced.

Bulk Barn: On Wednesdays, students get a 10% discount at Camrose’s hub for bulk-priced nuts, seeds, tea, granola… and candy. Because you didn’t have a hard enough time resisting the urge to buy a pound of peach rings before.  

Boston Pizza: Along with Wednesday wing night, where wings are half priced, the restaurant also has discounted pasta on Tuesdays and famous $11 3 oz drinks on Fishbowl Fridays.

Flashing Your OneCard

Co-op: Co-op will take 10% off your entire grocery bill when you present your student ID.

Shoppers Drug Mart: You can get 20% off regular priced items with your OneCard at Shoppers—including luxury fragrances and cosmetics.

Love Sushi: Whether you’re just getting bubble tea or splurging on a sashimi combo, you can get 10% off your bill while supporting this local business!

East Side Mario’s: East Side Mario’s will take 10% off your food bill with a valid student ID, regardless of how many loaves of bread you eat.

Duggan Cinemas: Showing your OneCard gets you a movie ticket for $7, so you can afford to splurge on that large bag of popcorn (which also gets a refill!).

Safeway: On the first Tuesday of every month, Safeway takes 10% off of your grocery bill. If you spend more than $35, you also get a coupon that gives you a discount on gas!