My daughter had a Student Account with Nat West but opened it in branch. Having applied online with no mention of it, perhaps go to you nearest branch and ask. The railcard is well worth it if you are going to use the trains a lot and it lasts for 5 years. My daughter did have hers stolen along with her purse and they replaced it, no charge and put an extra year on it too! Its good to have contact with actual people in branch too even if you have online banking. Nat West are particularly good at this.