If the best things in life are free, then suits and subscriptions are among the greatest. We at The Lafayette have compiled a brief list of free materials and resources that are available to students on campus.
Media subscriptions: Unbeknownst to many Lafayette students, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal are available free of charge.
In order to access The New York Times, students can go to myaccount.nytimes.com/verification/edupass to register for an account using their Lafayette email.
For The Washington Post, students can access any article using a proxy website that can be found by searching “Washington Post” on lafayette.edu.
Lastly, students can go to the research tools page on the library website and find the tab for the Journal in order to access all articles.
Adobe and Microsoft products: Whether you need Photoshop or Powerpoint, Lafayette provides subscriptions to both Adobe Creative Cloud and Microsoft 365 services. Students can access Adobe applications like Photoshop, Acrobat and Lightroom by visiting help.lafayette.edu/adobe-creative-cloud/. Information on accessing Microsoft 365 services including Word, Powerpoint and Excel is available on help.lafayette.edu/microsoft365/.
Reproductive health services: For all those that may need a gynecological consultation or various forms of birth control, Bailey’s Health Center has you covered. They provide full gynecological services every Monday by appointment and offer pap smears, STD testings, birth control prescriptions and Plan B pills. There are also free condoms available for students to take at their leisure.
Professional clothes: Do you have an interview coming up but find yourself without the business dress expected? The Gateway Career Center offers complimentary professional clothing for students to borrow through their Career Closet. Visit Hogg Hall to access the closet for your next interview.
Scientific calculators: Students taking STEM classes no longer have to buy expensive TI calculators. Last semester, the Student Government Academic Affairs Committee partnered with Skillman Library to start providing scientific calculators for free.
“While Skillman offered so much during my time here, I was surprised that borrowing calculators wasn’t an option, so our team and Skillman Library worked to purchase many calculators,” Olivia Lattanzi ‘23, director of Student Government’s Academic Affairs Committee, said.
Students can contact the library to request a calculator.
Technology loans: For those who may not have full-time access to the technology they need, Skillman Library has ways for students to borrow film and photography equipment as well as laptops for short periods of time. Cameras, camcorders, projectors, microphones, hard drives and headphones can be borrowed at the Skillman Circulation Desk; students can borrow them for a period between two hours and two days. Laptops can also be loaned for up to three hours.
Books: Although students may be aware that they can check out physical books from the library, they might not know that they are also able to borrow e-books via the Libby and OverDrive apps. Additionally, students can request books that aren’t available in the library by filling out the purchase recommendation form at library.lafayette.edu/purchase-recommendation, emailing Director of Research & Instructional Services Terese Heidenwolf or using the “recommend” button on OverDrive.
“We are here to help, and that’s what we like to do the most. If we don’t have a particular thing they need, we are happy to buy materials for students to make their lives easier,” Heidenwolf said. “A lot of students tend to not realize that, but we are always happy to get recommendations and help out.”
Emma Chen ‘24, Shirley Liu ‘23 and Trebor Maitin ‘24 contributed reporting.
