Best Student Accounts – August 2023

The pros and cons of any student bank account can vary depending on your needs. With that in mind, here are some benefits of selected student bank accounts that might be a good fit for you.

This account, for students who are 24 or younger and enrolled in high school or a college, university or vocational program, charges no overdraft fees or nonsufficient funds fees.

Clear Access Banking from Wells Fargo, available for customers ages 13 to 24, charges no overdraft or NSF fees.

Everyday Checking from Wells Fargo

Everyday Checking from Wells Fargo is available with no monthly fee when the account owner is 17 to 24. Wells Fargo has partnered with nearly 30 colleges to offer an “all-in-one” school-issued campus ID and ATM card. The card can be used for campus services, such as meal plans or library access, as well as banking.

High school and postsecondary students get a break on monthly fees and ATM fees with Student Checking from U.S. Bank. Student Checking customers are charged no fees for their first four non-U.S. Bank ATM transactions each month. At colleges in 16 states, you can link your student ID to a U.S. Bank Student Checking account.

Free Campus Checking from Navy Federal, for students 14 to 24, reimburses up to $10 a month for ATM fees charged by out-of-network ATMs. As part of the Co-op network, Navy Federal offers customers access to more than 30,000 fee-free ATMs.

Students qualify for PNC’s Virtual Wallet Student for six years from the time of the account opening and may be required to show proof of enrollment. Benefits are twofold for use of non-PNC ATMs: two reimbursements per month of the $3 PNC fee and up to $5 per month in rebates of other banks’ ATM fees.

A student bank account is a checking or savings account that a bank, credit union or other financial institution offers to students. Student accounts may have reduced fees and special features designed to meet students’ financial needs.

A checking or savings account can be a safe and convenient place to deposit money, including financial aid, that you don’t intend to spend right away. With a savings account, you can earn interest on your deposits. With a checking account, you can write checks, use a debit card to make purchases and use ATMs to deposit or withdraw cash or deposit checks.

Most checking and savings accounts offer online banking and a mobile app. These features let you use an internet-enabled computer, laptop or mobile device to check your account balances, deposit checks remotely, make payments and send money to other people.

If you have a checking account and a savings account, you can link the two accounts through your bank and transfer funds electronically from one account to the other.

Some banks have affiliate relationships with colleges, universities and other schools. These relationships allow those banks special access to market their student accounts and other financial products to the school’s students.

As of August 21, 2023, the national average rate for savings accounts was 0.43%, according to the FDIC. The best credit unions also offer student accounts with competitive rates.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advises students to choose a bank account as soon as possible and preferably before starting school.

“Once you have a bank account, sign up for direct deposit with your school before classes start,” the CFPB suggests. “If you’re expecting money from your financial aid office, you’ll often get it faster this way. It can be weeks before the school gets to writing you a paper check.”

To choose a bank account, think about which features you need and compare at least a few accounts from different banks both on and off campus.

Student checking account features to shop for include:

You don’t necessarily need to limit your options to banks and credit unions that have ATMs on or near your campus. That’s because many banks and credit unions are part of ATM networks or will reimburse some or all of the fees that you might be charged to use other banks’ ATMs.

It’s smart to shop for a checking account with low or no overdraft protection fees, but keep in mind that you can also avoid these fees entirely by not signing up for overdraft protection.

A good bank account for students shouldn’t charge fees and should be with a local bank or credit union that understands what local students want, says Adam Marlowe, principal experience officer at Georgia’s Own Credit Union in Atlanta. He adds that some schools offer discounts, tickets, cheaper books or other perks to students who use a card from an affiliated bank on campus.

The CFPB says very few accounts charge no fees of any kind, so you should dig deeper into the fine print if a student account is marketed as “free” or “easy.” Some banks will waive fees for students, so an account that normally charges fees could be free for you as long as you’re in school. Once you graduate, the fees will kick in, however.

Reading the fine print for a bank account might seem like additional homework that you don’t want to do. Still, it’s smart to read the disclosure statements that will come with your new account. These legal documents explain how your account works, what the rules are and what fees you might be charged.

“Disclosure statements contain the critical information you need to make an informed decision about which financial institution and its products and services are right for you,” says MyCreditUnion.gov, a website operated by the National Credit Union Administration.

After you open your account, you should decide how you will keep track of your balance.

One way is to monitor your monthly statements. Some banks offer e-statements, which you’ll receive electronically as an alternative to the paper statements you’ll receive in the mail. Some banks charge a monthly fee for paper statements.

Another way to monitor your balance is to set up an automated alert that will regularly send you an email or text message of your balance or when your balance drops to a certain amount that you specify. If your bank offers this feature, you normally can set it up online or with the bank’s mobile app.

The answer is no. But a bank that offers student accounts might be a good choice because these accounts are designed for students and may have lower fees that could save you money. But if you find a bank account you like that isn’t a student account, there’s no reason you can’t choose that account if you meet that bank’s requirements to open it. There are nonstudent bank accounts that offer plenty of features and low fees and are just as attractive in many ways as student accounts.

When you shop for a bank account, finding one with the features you want, locations that are convenient and low or no fees should be more important than finding an account that’s specifically marketed to students.

You should never be required to use a specific bank just because it’s affiliated with your school. “Just because a bank, credit union or other account provider pays your college for the right to market an account with your college’s mascot, logo or name, it doesn’t always mean that it’s the best deal for you,” the CFPB says.

If you plan to do a lot of banking in person, an affiliated bank might be more convenient for you than a bank that doesn’t have a strong presence on or near your campus. But if you’re more likely to use online banking or your bank’s mobile app most of the time, branch locations might not be as important to you as other account features or bank services.

Fees should be a consideration as well. An unpublished CFPB analysis from 2018 found that at most colleges, a majority of students didn’t pay any fees for an account with an affiliated bank. But for those students who paid affiliated-bank fees, the amounts added up.

“The bureau reviewed 573 colleges across the country with marketing agreements with banks. It found that 1.3 million students attending these colleges had open and active accounts with their colleges’ account providers. Students using accounts at these schools paid more than $27 million in fees during the 2016-2017 academic year, including overdraft and penalty charges,” CNBC reported.

The analysis found one large national bank charged students an average of almost $47 per year in fees.

Marlowe says using an affiliated bank or credit union “shows off support for the university,” but caution and research are paramount.

“Oftentimes (students) trade other features and options from a traditional account because of the affinity. It ultimately comes down to what works best for the individual,” he says.

The bottom line is that your decision to use or not use an affiliated bank might come down to what’s more important to you: showing your school spirit or finding the best bank for your needs.

Student bank accounts aren’t only for college students. In fact, high schoolers can also open student accounts jointly with a parent. Accounts for these younger students are sometimes called teen accounts or youth accounts.

“High school students are highly encouraged to seek an account that is joint with a parent so they can begin to learn the process of managing money. This will be super helpful as they enter their college years and no longer have the daily support from their parents,” says Marlowe.

A youth or teen checking or savings account can be part of a young person’s financial literacy training, says Military Onesource, a government-run resource for military families.

The website offers these tips for parents to teach their teenagers about money:

A bank is a for-profit financial company, and a credit union is a nonprofit cooperative that’s owned by its members. Both offer deposit accounts, credit cards, auto loans, mortgages and other financial products and services, and deposits are insured at both. Here are some pros and cons for banks vs. credit unions: