Students disclose methods of getting things for free

Editor's note: Here's a sampling of some of the silly, sometimes slightly illegal, ways students have obtained things for free. We only publish their first names for good reason ·

Illustration by Josh Hagler

"I've bought things with checks then returned them to get cash. I've started a tab on a maxed-out credit card, then just left. I cancelled the card later."

- Ryan, fine arts student

"I don't know if this really counts, but I went to Mardi Gras last year and I flashed a guy to get beads. I mean, beads are pretty much free anyway, but you have to do something to get them. Don't use my name, please. I just know I'll be teaching some day and one of my students will look me up online and find out I was a flasher in college."

- Anna, education student

"I've snuck into a lot of movies. I'm not brave enough to, you know, sneak into one right past the people who work there, but I movie-hop all the time. If you have a free Sunday, you can see like three movies for the price of one!"

- Janice, family studies student

"It helps if you know friends who work at places where you want free stuff. Like, I have a friend that works at (a video store), one that works at (a convenience store) and one that works at (a restaurant). Between the three of them,I can usually get free food and stuff."

- Trent, marketing student

"This is really lame and embarrassing, but when I lived on campus and didn't have a car, I'd be so poor I'd have to borrow movies from the library. Some of the movies weren't too bad, but it kind of shows you what my social life was like my freshman year."

-Candice, political science student