Flights on XL

We’re proud to announce our newest partner; the French carrier XL Airways France. StudentUniverse members in New York, Miami, Las Vegas and Los Angeles now have even more great options for cheap flights to Europe!

“Paris has been one of our most popular destinations for years and we are thrilled to work with XL to bring more students to Europe” said Renaud Cyr, VP of Airline Product at StudentUniverse.

Student Fares on China Airlines

Today we are pleased to announce a new and improved program with our trusted partner; China Airlines. The student travel program will provide StudentUniverse members with competitive airfares from New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco to eight destinations in Asia.

“This will be welcomed news for our fastest growing customer segment. Our business to and from Asia is growing fast and Asian international students love our service” said Renaud Cyr, VP of Airline Product at StudentUniverse.

“We are fortunate to have partners that recognize the importance of our audience. Millennials are the future business travelers. This partnership is important and a great addition to our service offering” said Atle Skalleberg, CEO at StudentUniverse.

Search for flights to Asia  

StudentUniverse launched “StudentUniverse Media” as a media network in early 2010. The division later evolved into SUMM (StudentUniverse Media and Marketing) – after seeing a growing demand for a full-service media and marketing agency specializing in brand strategy and execution in the student/youth market.

The former Founder and CEO of Mr. Youth, Paul Tedeschi, joined as General Manager and the agency has helped brands like RedBull, SoBe, Walgreens and Levi’s reach more students. Tedeschi has now agreed to acquire SUMM for an undisclosed amount.

“SUMM has left the mother ship and will continue on its new journey. We have incubated a great business and we wish the team all the best” said StudentUniverse CEO, Atle Skalleberg. “StudentUniverse will continue to utilize the college marketing services SUMM offers.”

SUMM’s current General Manager, Paul Tedeschi will continue to lead the business along with the entire SUMM team: “I believe this move will improve our focus and ensure continued growth. We are excited to build on the various promotional and digital marketing services we provide our clients in the youth market.”

Tedeschi said the new firm will be known as The Campus Agency and will officially launch on July 1, 2013. The agency will move from Waltham to new offices in Boston later this Summer.

Travel Abroad $1,000 Scholarship

We here at StudentUniverse understand the importance of the travel abroad experience, but we also understand the cost of traveling can make students hesitate. To alleviate this expense, StudentUniverse is giving away a $1,000 scholarship to anyone planning international travel this Summer or Fall! Tell us why you think it’s important for students to experience travel or a semester abroad, along with a few other brief responses and you will be entered for this exclusive opportunity. Don’t let money be the reason you miss out on an adventure of a lifetime. Enter now!

Alumni Travel Deals

It’s May and students are getting ready to graduate. Our members enjoy better terms and prices while they’re in college, but what about life after graduation? After years of tuition, fees, rent and books most would agree that graduates also need a break. There’s good news! Our travel discounts are good for anyone 18-25, so chances are you can still take advantage of our deals even after you’ve graduated. You’ll be able to save on hotels, tours, flights and more.

Congratulations and happy job-hunting!

Learn more about alumni travel deals.

WestJet for Students

We are pleased to announce our new partnership with the Canadian based airline WestJet. The carrier was founded in 1996 by a group of people who believed that just because you pay less for your flight, doesn’t mean you should get less – in other words; our kind of partner. Now students can book affordable flights to and from Canada.

WestJet has great service to more than 80 destinations in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. “We continue to add strategic partners and we like WestJet’s vision. This is great news for students” said Renaud Cyr, VP of Airline Product at StudentUniverse.

Find WestJet Flights Now 

Best April Ever

Student travel is alive and well! 2013 is off to a good start and we’ve broken several records so far this year. Having been in this business for more than a decade there’s one marketing-metric that we keep a close eye on; new members. It’s pretty simple really – when students like our service, they tell their friends. So, we’re psyched to report that April, 2013 was our best month ever for new members.

Why and how? Well, without sharing too much here we’re seeing record breaking traffic numbers (up ~50% year over year) and great results from partner-marketing as well. Our partners understand the value of price differentiation and the future value of our audience. With demand for international travel returning to healthier levels we’re seeing growth in demand for our services.

That’s all. A little bragging, but hey, it’s fun when hard work pays off.

Student? Join StudentUniverse

Chad Mooney

The leading student deals provider has announced the promotion of Chad Mooney to Chief Operating Officer. Chad has worked at StudentUniverse for more than a decade and has held various positions. Most recently Chad was overseeing all things web, as the VP of Website Operations.

“We are pleased to announce the promotion and very fortunate to have team members like Chad. He brings a wealth of experience to his new role and we look forward to working closely with him as we continue to grow our business” said Atle Skalleberg, CEO

Chad grew up in central Indiana and got his B.S. from Indiana University-Bloomington in 2000. After receiving his degree, Chad lived in Cork, Ireland for a while before moving to Boston in 2001. He had no job, but wanted to be close to his lifelong favorite baseball team – the Boston Red Sox. Chad joined the StudentUniverse team in 2002. He loves sports, Las Vegas, relaxing vacations where there is possibility for some culture and spending time with his two young daughters.

Millennials – Future Business Travelers

In the recent Boston Consulting Group article Traveling with Millennials the firm makes a solid case for how Millennials will be the most important segment in the years to come. At StudentUniverse we have spent more than a decade focusing on this group of travelers. Our airline partners (more than 65) understand the value of this segment. Here are some highlights from the BCG article:

“In fact, their spending on business flights is projected to grow sharply in the next several years, reaching nearly 50 percent of the total by 2020 or so and remaining strong for the 15 years after that. By comparison, as the baby boomers age, their spending will likely drop to only about 16 percent of total reported spending on business flights by 2020 and to 11 percent by 2025.”

“Airlines, hotels, and destinations that don’t reach out to Millennials now, seeking to understand and address their unique needs, may miss the boat entirely.”

“But waiting is not an option. Although most Millennials are just now beginning to develop their travel preferences, the window of opportunity to win their business—and their mind share—is limited. Forward-looking companies are taking action now.”

New Mobile Site

NEW! We’re happy to announce the launch of our new and improved mobile site. The new site will make it easier to check your itinerary, book cheap hotels and of course, find a killer airfare deal while you’re on the go.

We’ve focused on simplicity and we hope you like the result. The site will automatically detect that you’re coming from a mobile device, so simply go to StudentUniverse from your mobile device and you’ll be able to enjoy our improved mobile experience. You don’t have to download anything, but we recommend adding us to your home-screen for even faster access to your info and our deals.

“Our old mobile site wasn’t exactly great and we’re excited to get our new site live. Mobile usage has exploded and our new site will make it a lot easier and faster to use our service. We’re really excited to get it out there and we’ve got some great updates coming in the next few months too” said a software engineer that wishes to remain anonymous.

Want more screenshots and examples? See the student blog announcement.

Got any feedback on the new mobile site? Please contact us.