8 ways your student ID can help keep you entertained at home

Student IDs do more than just sign students on to BeachBoard. Those nine digits and your status as a student at Long Beach State can gain you access to a plethora of online databases provided through the University Library as well as several student discounts.

1. Curl up with a good e-book or learn a new language with the “E-book Central” database

There are thousands of e-books available through the “E-book Central” database, and you can filter it down to any subject from fiction and language to history and economics. Through the database, anyone with a university ID can access a wide range of e-books that can be downloaded or read directly from the browser.

2. Learn a thing or two with “Films on Demand”

Accessible through your university ID, “Films on Demand” focuses primarily on academic videos and lectures from a wide range of subjects. However, the database also contains plenty of documentaries such as the HBO-produced documentary about Robin Williams, “Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind,” that came out in 2019.

3. Access thousands of movies through “Swank”

If you’ve already watched every film and TV show on Netflix, “Swank” is a database that allows students to stream popular movies that have been requested for curriculum support. There are a variety of films accessible through the platform, from newer releases like Spike Lee’s “BlaKkKlansman” and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” to classics like Johnathan Demme’s “The Silence of the Lambs.”

4. Add some flavor to your LinkedIn profile with LinkedIn Learning

An application that’s easily overlooked when logging onto your MyCSULB single sign-on is “LinkedIn Learning.” The program, typically available for premium LinkedIn members, is accessible through your single sign-on and can connect directly to your LinkedIn account. With this service, students can watch video tutorials on a broad range of skills and software. Pair it with number five on the list to up your Adobe game.

5. Get creative with the Adobe Creative Cloud

For just $20, students can access the full Adobe Suite of software for a year, a significant discount compared to the $599.88 a year for non-CSULB students. Pair your LinkedIn Learning access with Adobe Audition and you can start making your new post-apocalypse mixtape to play in your Mad Max war truck. Click on the Software Depot button to find this deal. 

UPDATE: Adobe just announced that students that don’t already have an account can get free access until May 31st.

6. Access (even more) movies with “Kanopy”

Also accessible through the university library is “Kanopy.” Films currently available on the platform include Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” and Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade.” The platform also has a section just for kids if you need to keep them distracted while you study.

7. Curate the perfect quarantine playlist on Spotify

With a university ID, students can get Spotify Premium, Hulu (with ads) and Showtime all in one bundle! Start a collaborative playlist and create the perfect quarantine playlist with your friends. Our sister publication DIG Magazine curated a “Quarantine and Chill” playlist that you can listen to here.

8. Skip the lines: Order your necessities (or crisis buy toilet paper) with Amazon Prime Student

Stay at home and get everything you need with Amazon Prime Student. Prime Student members get the first six months free, then it’s $6.49 a month. This deal gives students free two-day shipping as well as Prime Video, which has original shows and movies to watch while social distancing.

Honorable Mention: Stay informed on all things COVID-19

While the campus may have shut down, the Daily Forty-Niner has not. Stay informed while staying indoors with the Daily Forty-Niner’s coverage of COVID-19 in relation to the CSULB campus community. For national coverage, all New York Times COVID-19 coverage is not locked behind a paywall. A student-priced subscription to the New York Times will give you full digital access as well as archived articles for a dollar a week.