Student identification cards are being used for more than just purchasing school supplies.Carrying around a student ID can now help cash-strapped students save an extra buck or two at local businesses.Some discounts might not be advertised — in which case students may have to ask about an offer — but many businesses do openly offer their discounts to students.Among the businesses offering discounts are CiCi’s Pizza on Corporate Boulevard and the Jiffy Lube on Perkins Road. CiCi’s Pizza offers an all-you-can-eat-and-drink college special for $6 on Mondays while Jiffy Lube offers a 15 percent discount.Students can satisfy their sweet tooth while going easy on their wallet Tuesday nights at Hershey Ice Cream on Lee Drive. The ice cream parlor offers a 25 percent discount for any purchase with a valid student ID — something many students take advantage of, said employee Chelsea Comeaux. “We usually do get busier on Tuesday nights,” Comeaux said. Every Wednesday from 8 p.m. until 11 p.m. is College Night at Metro Bowl on Airline Highway. Students can bowl for $5 an hour per lane with a valid ID. Circle Bowl on Florida Boulevard also offers a discount to students with ID cards. They charge only $2.50 per game. Student discounts are also available at local movie theaters. The United Artists Citiplace Theater on Citiplace Drive charges $7.75 for a student ticket, a dollar less than the general admission price. The Cinemark movie theater at Perkins Rowe charges students $7 a ticket, a discount of $1.50. A student ID can also gain free admission to the LSU Museum of Art, as well as a 10 percent discount for select performances at the Manship Theatre. Both are located in the Shaw Center in downtown Baton Rouge. But the discounts don’t stop at the local level. With a student e-mail address and ID, students can get discounts on travel fares through travel brokers like STA Travel and Student Universe. Students can also save up to 10 percent on computers from Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Sony through student discounts offered by each company.Signing up for student discount programs also has many benefits. Membership for Student Advantage, the nation’s largest student discount program, costs $20 a year. Members receive discounts to companies such as Target.com, Barnes & Noble, Foot Locker, Office Depot and more. Students who don’t want to splurge on a membership card can look to StudentBistro.com, which offers free student discount information. Heather Olano, general studies senior, said she uses her student ID to get discounts on things such as movie tickets. “It’s not much, but it helps,” Olano said.—-Contact Brianna Paciorka at [email protected]