Colleges often make deals with local businesses. If you look around you may find that the student council, or student affairs, or somebody can hook you up with cheap movie tickets, coupons for pizza, etc.

At the college I attended I found that administrative guidelines were not as inflexible as they seemed on their face. I can't remember the number of times I was wait-listed for a class but was able to get in anyway because I showed up the first day and asked the professor if they could help me out. Generally my strategy to any bureaucratic problem I encountered was to work my way up the food chain until I found someone that was empowered to help me.