New Student ID Keeps You in Touch With the World

Keeping in touch with home is getting easier for traveling students. Now, in addition to offering student discounts around the world, the 1999 version of the International Student Identity Card (ISIC) provides traveling students with a free Internet-based e-mail account and a worldwide voice and fax mail message service.

The ISIC was created by the International Student Travel Confederation (ISTC) 40 years ago to be the single worldwide proof of student status. It is now accepted in more than 90 countries.

The new ISIC looks like a credit card with a photo. The number on each card is linked to a telecommunications package that’s called ISIConnect. Family or friends can pass along voice or fax messages by calling a single toll-free number, then dialing in the student’s ISIC number. The student can retrieve phone messages from any touch-tone phone in the world (in many countries the number will be toll-free). ISIC holders are also issued e-mail addresses, and they can retrieve any message sent to them electronically by logging onto the ISTC Internet site at https://www.istc.org.

The communications package includes a service known as Telesafe. It’s a virtual safe to which students can fax copies of their passport and other important documents. If the originals are lost or stolen, copies can be retrieved by fax or e-mail from anywhere in the world. The new ISIC can also be used as a phone card. To activate it, you must load a minimum of $20, using a credit card through a toll-free number or via the ISTC Internet site. The card can be reloaded at any time.

Nearly 3 million students are issued ISICs each year. They provide reduced rates for a variety of services, ranging from transportation to museums and historic sites.

In Australia the ISIC brings a 10% discount on all express tickets on Australian Coachlines, a 20% discount on bus tickets with McCafferty’s Express Coaches or a 5% discount on OZ Experience backpacker bus services. In Egypt, cardholders save 30% to 50% on rail tickets (except sleepers), and in Turkey several large domestic bus services offer a 10% discount.

ISIC holders get a 10% discount at the 24 Brazilian Hostelling International facilities. In France, cardholders can use economical university housing between June and late September. In the U.S., Choice Hotels, Ramada Hotels, Days Inns and Howard Johnson hotels offer discounts ranging from 10% to 30% (when booked through special toll-free numbers). In India, Classic and Comfort hotels offer up to a 50% reduction.

These sample discounts are detailed in the ISIC “Student Travel Handbook,” given free when the card is issued. Discount lists also appear on the ISIC Internet site.

The 1999 photo identity card is available to full-time students over age 12. You’ll need proof of your full-time student status and a passport-size photo. The cost is $20. For more details, contact STA Travel, telephone (213) 934-8722 or (800) 777-0112, Internet https://www.sta-travel.com, or Council Travel, (800) 2 COUNCIL, Internet https://www.counciltravel.com.