Cellphone Plans for College Students

Cell Phones for College Students

The postpaid plans require the student to commit to either a one-year or two-year service contract. If the contract is terminated early, the student is forced to pay a termination fee anywhere from $150 to $200. Many college students are apprehensive of long contract commitments because they could be out of the area for employment during summer break or after graduation. Postpaid plans also require credit approval, which may be difficult for most students with little or no credit history. If you read most cell phone ads in campus newspapers, you will find these conditions mentioned in the fine print.

The advantage of a postpaid plan is the inclusion of lots of airtime minutes each month at a reasonably cheap cost per minute. Most postpaid plans also include free night and weekends when calls can be made without using up airtime minutes. Students must keep track of phone usage because minutes used above the plan minutes are charged at a very high rate. Some students have been surprised by high bills when they unknowingly used their phones above the monthly plan minutes.

Most university students who are turned down for a traditional postpaid cellular phone plan choose a prepaid plan as a second choice. In a prepaid wireless plan, the student buys a wireless phone at full retail price. Airtime minutes are purchased separately to make calls on the purchased wireless phone.

The advantage of a prepaid wireless plan is no requirement for credit checks, annual contracts, or deposits. College students just need to be able to pay for the phone itself and charging it up with airtime minutes.

The disadvantage of a prepaid wireless plan is the need to keep track of when your prepaid minutes expire. If you forget and let your unused minutes expire, you will lose those minutes and may also lose your cellphone number.

After comparing several prepaid cellular plans, I recommend that you try Cingular GoPhone, Virgin Mobile, T-Mobile To Go, or TracFone who cater to college students by not requiring a credit check at all.