Update 9/26/24: Those who have this card are getting an email that it will be changed to a Freedom Unlimited card on October 7, 2024 as the Freedom Student is being discontinued. (ht avsterbone) Presumably this card is being discontinued in favor of their newer Freedom Rise card.
Update 4/2/20: Card is now available online.
Update 6/10/19: Card is now available, but only in branch.
Chase will launch a new Freedom Student card on June 9th. (All this information comes from an anonymous source.)
Bonus Information
- Card comes with a $50 signup bonus after making your first purchase within 3 months
- Card has a special Good Standing reward of $20 (2,000 Ultimate Rewards points) for 5 years at the account anniversary date, as long as the card is open in good standing (no other requirement for this bonus)
Card Details
- Card has no annual fee (like the ordinary Freedom card)
- Card earns 1% cashback on all purchases (like the ordinary Freedom card)
- Card apparently does NOT have the 5% rotating categories that the ordinary Freedom card has (it’s not mentioned anywhere in the literature)
- Card is not a secured card, it’s a regular credit card
Other Details
- Card is only be available for students
- Must be 18 or older to apply
- If you graduate or stop going to school, you’ll continue receiving all the same benefits as before
- When inputting their income, students should use income from things like seasonal jobs, internships, public assistance benefits, investments, etc.
- Special focus on credit education information
- Automatic credit limit increase after 5 on-time payments within the first 10 months
Final Thoughts
Chase currently does not have any student card, and it’s interesting to see them break into that market. The $20 annual bonus for 5 years + $50 initial bonus makes the signup bonus basically the equivalent of a 15,000 bonus with no spend requirement which isn’t bad for a no-fee student card.
I’m a bit surprised the card won’t have the 5% rotating categories; from what I can tell, even after graduation all card details will remain the same (other than the $20 annual bonus which ends after 5 years) with no 5% categories. For comparison, Discover’s IT Student card does have the same 5% rotating benefit as the regular Discover IT card.
Overall, a solid new option for students to get started with. Other good options for students include the Discover IT card (student version) or the Citi Rewards+ Student card.
View Comments (58)
I haven’t received an email. I have CFU, CFF, and the freedom student
I have a Chase Freedom Student and I haven't gotten this notice yet as of Sep 27 2024.
Very sad to see this one go. It was my first credit card :(
It's also much better than the Chase Freedom Rise imo.
Chase sapphire reserve 100 back on chase travel 500 spend
Figured it can be useful to many
It seems that Freedom Student is no longer available online. The page your link leads to only has CF and CFU.
The dedicated page for CFS on chase dot com now says visit a branch to apply
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/freedom/student
Yeah Chase often rotates what cards are available online
I wish this was an option when I got my first credit card. Getting the freedom or the unlimited with no credit score is almost impossible with Chase.
This is a good start since college students either go with Discover, Capital One, or Wells Fargo.
Is the normal Freedom tough to get? I got it when I was 16 or 17 and had no work history, just for overdraft protection on my bank account and to get some credit history.
Do you think this would be a possible product change option for a student who has another Chase UR card? I may have a couple of relatively useless Chase cards (i.e. a duplicate Freedom from a downgrade, a Freedom Unlimited when I also have the Ink Unlimited, etc.) by the time I start grad school next fall, and getting $20 in value out of them per year would certainly be nicer than nothing.
Even if you were to product change they would likely not give you the $20 a year since they would likely say its for new card members only.
That's what I'm wondering. It doesn't say anywhere that I can find that the $20 is considered a new cardmember bonus (it would seem strange to have something that can only happen after you've had the card for a year be a new member bonus), but that doesn't mean it's not.
It is NOT easier. They reject students who, and I quote, "not enough accounts opened long enough to establish a credit history". Having some income, an account with Chase, and being a student does not help in the slightest.
They might print University Logos on these and push them at on-campus events. That's how they got me to sign up for my first ever credit card.