Best Banks for College Students in 2026

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Going off to college is exciting, but it can also be frightening — for students and parents. The best banks, however, will have the right features, so neither one of you has to worry about money. Finding the right bank can teach students good financial habits and give parents peace of mind.

Here are the best banks for college students.

Banks With College Student Checking Accounts

Banks know that if they offer college students a good checking account, they could end up with a customer for life. Here are some banks that offer the features college kids are looking for.

Bank of America

• Fees: No monthly service fee if you are under 25, maintain a minimum daily balance of $500, or are a member of the Preferred Rewards Program. $4.95 monthly service fee if the requirements aren’t met.
• Minimum deposit: $25
• Best for: Comprehensive banking

Bank of America, Member FDIC, has a checking account for college students called Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking. The account has no overdraft fees — any items presented against insufficient funds are usually returned, which keeps you from spending more than you have.

New checking account customers can qualify for a cash bonus of up to $500. To earn a bonus, you may open Advantage SafeBalance Banking by Jan. 31, 2026, and make qualifying direct deposits within the first 90 days.

The total amount of your direct deposit determines your bonus amount. You can earn

• $100 with total direct deposits of $2,000
• $300 with total direct deposits of $5,000
• $500 with total direct deposits of $10,000 or more
• After you meet the requirements, the bonus will be deposited into your account within 60 days. 

The bank also offers student savings accounts and credit cards, as well as videos in Spanish and English providing financial guidance, as part of the bank’s Better Money Habits initiative.

Chase

• Fees: No monthly service fee until the expected graduation date listed in the account opening, or if you receive monthly direct deposits totaling $500 or more, or have an average ending day account balance of $1,500 or more. $15 monthly service fee if you can’t meet requirements.
• Minimum deposit: $0
• Best for: Sign-up bonus

Chase offers a College Checking account for college students ages 17 to 24. There’s no fee as long as you’re a student, for a maximum of five years. You can also get a Chase Savings account with no monthly service fee when you link it to your checking account for overdraft protection*.

When you open a new account by Jan. 21, 2026, and complete 10 qualifying transactions within 60 days, you can earn a $125 bonus.

PNC Bank

• Fees: No monthly service fee until age 25. Gets converted to a regular Virtual Wallet® after that period
• Minimum deposit: $25
• Best for: Saving features

Students who bank with PNC Bank can get a Virtual Wallet Student® that includes a Spend account — your primary checking account — a Reserve account for short-term planning and a Growth account for longer-term savings goals.

Low Cash Mode lets you know when your balance is getting low, and gives you at least 24 hours to bring your balance back to zero before charging overdraft fees. If you have multiple overdraft items, you can choose which ones to return and which ones to pay.

U.S. Bank

• Fees: No monthly service fee if ages 13 to 24 or 65 and over. Can also waive fees if you receive combined monthly direct deposits totaling $1,500 or more, keep an average account balance of $1,500 or more, are part of the military, own a U.S. Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card, own an eligible U.S. Bank small business checking account, or qualify for Smart Rewards tiers. There’s a $12 monthly service fee if you can’t meet any of the requirements.
• Minimum deposit: $25
• Best for: On-campus banking services

The U.S. Bank Student Checking allows students at participating schools to link their student ID to their U.S. Bank Student Checking account and manage money that way. The U.S. Bank campus banking program provides on-campus banking services and financial education for students.

Transactions at U.S. Bank ATMs are free, and the bank does not charge for the first four transactions per month at non-U.S. Bank ATMs. 

You can also earn a $100 cash bonus if you open a new checking account by Feb. 26, 2026, with a $25 minimum opening deposit. Within the first 90 days, you will also need to receive $1,000 or more in total new money deposits, make 10 debit card purchases totaling $100 or more, and enroll in online or mobile banking.

U.S. Bank offers no-fee overdraft protection if students choose to link a qualifying U.S. Bank account. If the account is overdrawn by less than $50 at the end of the day, any overdraft fees are waived. Students can also benefit from Overdraft Fee Forgiven, which offers waivers on overdraft fees, as long as they make enough deposits to cover the overdraft by 11 p.m. EST on the day following the overdraft.

Discover Bank

• Fees: No monthly service fee
• Minimum deposit: $0
• Best for: Frequent debit card usage

Discover Bank, Member FDIC doesn’t offer a student checking account per se, but its regular checking account is a good choice for students.

The thing that makes it stand out is that it offers cash back on debit card purchases. You get 1% cash back on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases per month. You won’t get charged for insufficient funds or for a replacement debit card. Plus, you can use that debit card at over 60,000 ATMs across the country without incurring a fee.

Ally

• Fees: No monthly service fee
• Minimum deposit: $0
• Best for: Tracking expenses

Ally Bank, similar to other online banks on this list, only offers a regular checking account named the Ally Spending Account. It doesn’t have a checking account specifically for college students. However, its bucketing features make it a solid choice for budgeters.

The bucketing feature is available through online and mobile banking. In the Spending account, you can create up to 30 spending buckets for your expenses. For example, you can label buckets as “rent,” “utilities” or “groceries.” You can list how much you want to spend on a category, and either manually deposit money or set up automatic distributions. Bucketing can be a useful feature if you want to track expenses and prevent overspending in certain categories.

The Ally Spending Account doesn’t have any overdraft fees. You can also earn APY on balances under $15,000 and APY on balances of $15,000 or more.

Capital One

• Fees: No monthly service fee
• Minimum deposit: $0
• Best for: ATM accessibility

Capital One 360 Checking is the bank’s standard checking option. It has no overdraft fees and earns APY*. The account also has access to 70,000 fee-free ATMs. This includes Capital One, MoneyPass and Allpoint ATM networks. 

Although it’s primarily an online bank, Capital One also has some locations for in-person customer support. You can go to a Capital One branch or cafe.

You can earn a $250 checking account bonus if you open Capital One 360 Checking with the code CHECKING250 and receive two or more qualifying direct deposits, each of $500 or more, within the first 75 days. The bonus can end at any time. The promotional page does not list an expiration date.

College Credit Unions

Many colleges and universities have credit unions on campus, which can be a good choice for students. Credit unions are owned by their members, not shareholders, so their primary objective is to provide good service and good interest rates to members.

To qualify for membership, you usually have to have some affiliation with the school, e.g., you are a student, an employee or live or work in the city where the school is located. Generally, you will need to open a savings account and make a $5 minimum opening deposit to establish membership at a credit union.

MIT Federal Credit Union

• Fees: No monthly service fees
• Minimum deposit: $5
• Best for: MIT students and their family members, partners, or roommates, as well as American Consumer Council members

The student checking account at MIT Federal Credit Union has student-friendly features like one free incoming wire transfer each semester and no fees for overdrafts up to $10. You can also get up to eight free ATM withdrawals — at any ATM — per month. Plus, there’s no charge to replace your debit card up to twice per year.

Michigan State University Federal Credit Union

• Fees: No monthly service fees
• Minimum deposit: $0
• Best for: Michigan State University students and their family members. You might also consider it an option if you live in Michigan or fulfill one of the other qualifying criteria.

The Totally Green Checking Account at Michigan State University Federal Credit Union has no non-sufficient funds fees, meaning you won’t be charged for transactions declined or returned.

Overdraft transfers are another option available to you, and these allow you to cover an overdrawn balance by automatically transferring money from another account. There’s a $2 fee for paper overdraft transfer notices, but you avoid it by setting up electronic notices instead.

The credit union sponsors financial education events on campus and has an informative blog called Financial 4.0 to help students become financially literate.

University of Southern California Credit Union

• Fees: No monthly service fee, though there may be a $5 membership fee if the account is closed in the first 90 days after opening the account. Gets converted to a FlexSpend account six years after account opening.
• Minimum deposit: $0.
• Best for: USC students, household members, or immediate family members. You also might consider this credit union if you live in Los Angeles County or Orange County.

Students at the University of Southern California can open CampusSpend. It has no minimum balance requirements, and you can get free withdrawals at USC Credit Union ATMs, Co-Op ATMs and Citi® ATMs and two free withdrawals per month at any other ATMs.

University Credit Union

• Fees: No monthly service fees
• Minimum deposit: $50 .
• Best for: Students attending any university or college in Southern California, a California member university of the Western Athletic Conference, or a university of the West Coast Conference. Georgia Tech University students and University of Texas at Arlington students also may join.

With the Smart Checking Account, you can earn 2.25% APY by setting up direct deposits of $1,000 per month and enrolling in online statements. The account doesn’t have minimum balance requirements.

If you have a personal or auto loan, you can set up auto pay on your checking account and get a 0.25% APR discount.

Karen Doyle and Cynthia Measom contributed to the reporting for this article.

Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of Jan. 6, 2026.

The information related to the Chase College Checking account was collected by GOBankingRates and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this product. Product details may vary. Please see the issuer’s website for current information. GOBankingRates does not receive commission for this product.

*With Chase Overdraft Assist^SM, Chase won’t charge an Insufficient Funds Fee if you’re overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the business day OR if you’re overdrawn by more than $50 and you bring your account balance to overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the next business day (you have until 11 PM ET (8 PM PT) to make a deposit or transfer). Chase Overdraft Assist does not require enrollment and comes with eligible Chase checking accounts.

*Capital One interest rates accurate as of 01/07/26. See website for all current rates.

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