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Life after grad: discounts and donations

By Hayley Hanks

For all those graduating from Ryerson this year, you’ve probably been a mix of excited to never be in Kerr Hall again and terrified of what your next step is going to be (please stop asking us that). Thankfully, graduating from Ryerson isn’t all bad: after the thousands of dollars you’ve poured into this place, alumni discounts mean you’ll get a little extra back—for the rest of your life. Here’s what you can expect to save on after graduation:

VIA Rail Tickets

Great news! As a Ryerson alumni, you get to save 10 per cent on every ticket you buy with VIA Rail. Remember the discount for booking summer travel, but don’t try to move all your stuff back home on the train.

Hotel Deals

Rye alumni also get to save at hotels, both in Toronto and across Canada. You can save approximately $40 a night for a single room at the Toronto Courtyard Marriot, 10 per cent off the best available rate at all Fairmont hotels and other discounts at the Chelsea, Ramada and Bond Place hotels in Toronto.

Retail Discounts

Do you love shoes? Then this discount is for you! Ryerson alumni get a 10 per cent discount at Soft Moc on regular and sale priced merch, which almost covers the price of taxes. All you have to do is print out the alumni flyer off of Ryerson’s alumni website (where you can find other deals, too) and present it in store or enter the code online.

Sports Things!

If you’re interested in trekking out to the Hershey Centre in Mississauga to catch a Raptors 905 game, Ryerson alumni get up to 35 per cent off tickets throughout the regular season.

As a Ryerson alum, you also get some discounted rates on campus facilities…assuming you ever want to come back to campus again. For example, alumni save 30 per cent on monthly gym memberships, meaning you can still access the RAC and MAC as an individual or for group fitness classes. Oh, joy.

Campus Store

If you regret not buying a program sweater that you can one day pull out of your basement storage, then good news! Alumni save 20 per cent on merch at the Ryerson Campus Store, so wait a few days after you graduate to grab a hoodie. You can post a #TBT on Instagram and pretend you’ve had it all along.

Lastly, once you’ve graduated, no need to worry about Ryerson asking you for money for a little while. David Kinahan, the director of development communications at Ryerson who deals with alumni donations, said “we technically have a moratorium for about five years on asking recent graduates for donations.”

If alumni do decide they’re ready to give money to the school, Kinahan says even a donation of $20 to their program or faculty can be pooled together with other individual donations to go towards things like emergency funds for students or better lab and tech equipment.

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