7 Promotional Giveaway Ideas for Colleges

  • Mar 29, 2022

There's no denying that college students love to receive free things, and it's even better when those free items are useful. If you're a company sponsoring college events, you can use promotional products to generate on-campus buzz for your brand.

Hosting promotional giveaways boasts numerous marketing benefits, including increased brand awareness, greater brand recognition, and a stronger sense of community around the brand. Are you ready to tap into these benefits?

Continue reading for our top seven promotional giveaway ideas for college students.

1. Academic Supplies

Give students the supplies they'll need to succeed in class with college merchandise they can use in the classroom. Some possible academic supplies you could give away include:

  • Journals: All students need to take notes. Why not give them the right journal for the task and brand it?
  • Binders: As students juggle several classes, they'll need a place to keep their assignments and notes. A binder can be the perfect tool to help them along the way and foster school spirit across campus. 
  • Highlighters: While pens and pencils are also great promotional products for colleges, highlighters hold untapped potential for giveaways. Many students frequently use highlighters to emphasize important information from their textbooks and notes.

2. Organizational Tools

Proper organization is the key to college success, and students might need help organizing all their academic supplies — especially in a small space like a dorm room. Implement some cool giveaways for college students by providing them with: 

  • Calendars: When college students come to campus, they'll have a lot of dates to keep up with — assignment due dates, events, and club meeting schedules. Give them a calendar to help them organize it all.
  • Desk organizers: As mentioned above, dorms are small. Help students organize a small space by giving away desk organizers and pen holders.
  • Dry-erase boards: Between classes and on-campus clubs, college students have a lot to keep track of on a daily basis. A dry-erase board doubles as a study tool and a memo board for students to remind themselves of important upcoming tasks.

3. Durable Bags

Full-time college students may have anywhere from four to six classes in a semester, and those classes will stretch all across campus. Every student needs a durable bag to carry their class supplies throughout the day. Tap into this need by giving away a branded backpack

Students are also doing their laundry in a dorm, and their laundry room might not be in the same building they're living in. Consider giving them a laundry bag to provide them with something they're sure to use and appreciate.

4. Functional Drinkware

Anyone who's been on a college campus has likely seen students carrying around reusable water bottles and tumblers. Drinkware like this makes it easy for students to always have a sip of water on hand, and the closable lids mean they can tuck the drink safely into their backpacks.

For this reason, reusable water bottles make excellent promotional products for college students.

5. Comfortable Apparel

 Comfortable Apparel

College students love being comfortable as they head to class and stay up late studying. Consider giving away promotional apparel they'll wear around campus, such as:

  • T-shirts: Universities and on-campus organizations give away an abundance of T-shirts because many students love wearing them around their dorm and to class.
  • Sweatshirts and hoodies: Sweatshirts and hoodies perfectly complement the t-shirt for colder months.
  • Sweatpants: Let students don your brand as they walk around their dorm by giving away promotional sweatpants

6. Weatherproof Garb

An often overlooked but crucial piece of gear for the college student is the umbrella. Most — if not all — college students will be caught in the rain several times while walking to class. Turn this problem into an opportunity to give students a college promo item they'll actually need and use.

7. Tech Gadgets 

From smartphones to laptops, technology is a central aspect of any college student's life. Consider giving away tech gadgets such as:

  • Phone wallets: Students have a lot of items to carry. A phone case that doubles as a wallet will help keep many of those important items in one place.
  • Phone grips: Look around a college campus, and you'll likely see many students using phone grips. Give these away for extra brand visibility while also serving a purpose for the students.
  • Headphones: Many students wear headphones while walking around their dorms or to and from class. Tap into this popularity and offer headphones with your next giveaway. 

Places to Hold Popular Giveaways for College Students

Now that you have several ideas for university promotional items, you might be wondering when and where to host the giveaways for these items. Depending on whether you want to target prospective students or current students, you have various options.

A few of our favorite ideas include:

  • College fairs
  • On-campus tours
  • Student orientations
  • Sporting events 
  • Campus life events
  • On-campus club and organization fairs

Benefits of College Promotional Products

Using these popular giveaways for college students will help improve your brand equity and interest. 

Generating interest among prospective students is more critical now than ever before. The percentage of Americans who view college as very important dropped nearly 20% from 2013 to 2019. Promotional products can foster a sense of camaraderie amongst current and past students, which can attract recent high school graduates. If you choose strategic items that prospects will get a lot of use out of, you show them you understand their needs and want to help them. 

The numbers prove that collegiate promotional products are well-liked. The average collegiate store sold $2.4 million worth of products from 2018 to 2019. With these stores' primary product being college merchandise, you can see just how large of a market this is. Tap into it by creating useful branded swag and host giveaways to offer students the kind of merch they want.

Find the Best College Promo Items at SourcePromo

If you're ready to find practical, exciting swag for college students, look no further than SourcePromo. Our store features over 400,000 products to meet your promotional needs. Easily navigate to the products you're most interested in, and once you find the right choice, request a free sample or request a quote to jumpstart the ordering process. 

From the earliest design stages to fulfillment and delivery, SourcePromo is your one-stop shop for every part of the promotional product process. We seamlessly integrate everything you need to source high-quality swag. If you have questions along the way, our world-class customer service team is happy to help.

Are you ready to order promotional items that will be a hit with college students? Contact us to make an order today. 


  • Category: Promotional Giveaways
  • Tags: college promotional products, cool giveaways for college students, college merchandise, promotional products for colleges, university promotional items, college promo items
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