Looking for a cute way to carry around your stuff in college? Here are the best cute backpacks for college students.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Learn more: Affiliate Disclaimer.
Any college student will tell you there’s nothing more important than a versatile backpack. Not only will they help make carrying your school supplies easier.
Here are some of our favorite cute backpacks for college students so you can find one that fits your style and preferences.
These backpacks are just what you need to carry heavy textbooks, laptops, and other essentials in college.
Cute Backpacks For College Students
1. BROMEN Leather Laptop Backpack
How cute is this faux leather backpack? It’s cute, practical, and looks very professional.
I love that it’s super stylish but it’s big enough to carry your laptop, books, and other necessities around campus.
The BROMEN Leather Laptop Backpack is made to carry all you need in college in deluxe style and luxurious comfort.
We love the BROMEN Leather Laptop Backpack’s durable and easy accessibility – particularly its sizeable u-zip opening to the main compartment.
Key Features:
- A beautiful example of a well-made “vegan leather.” It’s not only durable but solid quality and easy to care for fabric.
- Some well-placed pockets, water bottle compartments, a padded laptop pocket, and storage solutions make organizing a cinch.
- Good comfortable, adjustable shoulder strap to carry it in daily.
- The total volume of this pack is (L) 11.02″ x (W) 4.72″ x (H) 15.75″, and weighing 2.95 lb (1.34 kg).
- This bag also comes in more color options than most.
2. Carhartt Legacy Deluxe Work Backpack
The Carhartt brand has been in the business for over 100 years. They have a history of creating affordable, comfortable, and durable backpacks.
Any college student who values versatility over portability. With the inclusion of good organization and comfortability, the Carhartt Legacy Deluxe Work Backpack is great for carrying a lot of stuff—like heavy textbooks, laptops, and personal items—essential for any college student.
Key Features:
- Tons of features, organizational space, comfortable, intuitive, and functional design
- It holds up to 16.7 inches computer with a dedicated water bottle holder and slots for file folders, notebooks – or other items.
- The front one has a small mesh pocket and 2 sleeves within the main bag.
- An ergonomic shoulder strap adjusts to fit your body size and shape.
- Made from heavy-duty synthetic materials that will last for years.
- Measured 15w x 17.5h x 12.5d inches, and weight 2.4 pounds
3. Herschel Retreat Backpack
Just in time for back to school! The Herschel Retreat Backpack impressed us with its simplicity. It offers a comfortable carry for a student who needs a spare lightweight bag that takes up very little space.
The Herschel Retreat Backpack has the right features to accommodate gym gear, tablets/laptops, and school stuff. However, it fills a unique niche for outdoor enthusiasts. As a result, this is the pack we recommend for an entire week’s worth of hiking and backpacking.
Key Features:
- The best feature has to be the padded laptop sleeve compartment and padded shoulder straps.
- It’s a 19.5L-sized bag. It is large enough to fit a laptop, jacket, coffee mug, water bottle/jug, and daily stuff and still has room.
- Excellent material and finishing quality.
- Come with drawstrings to tighten up everything.
4. Leather Laptop Backpack
BOSTANTEN is a go-to brand if you’re shopping for a leather backpack for college. The company has been making high-quality leather bags since 2016 and selling them reasonably.
The new BOSTANTEN Leather Laptop Backpack raises the bar for innovation and functionality in a sleek daypack. Built to last and entirely fashionable, the latest addition to the BOSTANTEN lineup brings a cute backpack for college.
Key Features:
- The lining and cowhide leather materials combined provide extreme comfort and durability.
- This laptop backpack has a central zipped pocket with a laptop slot, 3 slip pockets, an inner zip pouch, 2 pen slots, and 2 front zip pockets. The back also has a zip-up compartment.
- BOSTANTEN offers a satisfaction guarantee.
- A top grab handle for quick carry and a large back pocket for added storage. Including a pass-through sleeve secures your bag to rolling luggage.
5. North Face Borealis School Laptop Backpack
The North Face Borealis School Laptop Backpack offers the best bang for your buck of all the backpacks we reviewed.
Its new updates make it highly versatile with an easy-to-access slew of external features! More comfortable, protective, and functional at a reasonable price.
Take it to school, gym, and (the backplate offers excellent airflow) take it hiking or your next adventure— this is an ideal bag for all terrains.
Key Features:
- Offering ample storage of 28L with an easy-to-access pocket
- A padded sleeve that fits up to a 15″ laptop and keeps it safe from bumps and drops
- A built-in suspension system keeps your items about two inches off the ground.
- Comes in 22 different colors
- A well-built, flexible harness system
- The main compartment has a padded sleeve and two large zippered mesh pockets holding books, binders, and papers.
- The front room has a fleece-lined pocket for sunglasses or keys and a small pocket for cables or other accessories. Finally, two mesh pockets on each side can hold bottles or water bottles if you don’t need them in the main compartment.
6. Fjallraven Kanken Laptop Backpack
The Kanken Laptop Backpack has been a favorite among college students and fashionistas for years. The bag is super-popular and cute, petite, and hip.
Though it lacks the organizational features of the North Face Borealis. It’s simple and stylish, but it’s not dull. I’ve been using mine for a few years, and it’s still in great shape! It’s also really durable so far.
Key Features:
- Volume: It’s lightweight (less than a pound) and offers 18 L of storage space for college essentials.
- It comes in different sizes to fit 13″, 15″ or 17″ laptops.
- Come with a laptop pocket padded on all sides and tons of space to organize school supplies.
- It also comes in 12 different colors (I think).
- Two carry system. The removable leather straps let you customize how it looks depending on what kind of look you’re going for that day or if you want to carry more stuff than usual.
7. Vera Bradley Campus Backpack
The Vera Bradley Campus Backpack immediately made a positive impression on college students.
It only continued to impress us from there, earning a spot as one of the best cute women’s backpacks in this review.
This is a versatile pack soft, beautiful design with easy-to-use storage and compartments options. It’s very comfortable to wear and durable, too.
Key Features:
- Sustainable fabric. It’s very comfortable, vibrant, and machine washable.
- Chic & secure: Two sizeable zippered interior mesh compartments to easily hold a laptop or tablet compartments for school.
- A hidden half compartment behind the shoulder straps is very convenient for storing flat items (like papers).
- Lightweight and stylish, with extra four slip pockets, a water bottle holder, three pen slip pockets, and essential materials organized
- It measures 17″ X 11″ X 8″ and weighs under 2 pounds.
8. COTS Laptop Backpack
Here’s an exciting and unique option. The COTS Laptop Backpack boasts a casual yet modern look.
COTS understands what makes a solid backpack, and these inexpensive, cute, unisex backpacks show this off for college students.
It’s beautiful and versatile design brings many features and completely waterproof fabric often found only on expensive bags.
Key Features:
- Surprisingly long-lasting and fits “15”, 14” and 13” laptop easily
- Provides soft handling and wrinkle-resistant features
- Easy to take care of, simply wipes, and it looks new.
- Large enough to carry a laptop, an ebook reader, a portable keyboard and mouse, a battery pack, and other essentials.
9. Matein Travel Laptop Backpack
This next backpack looks like a previous one above, but the price tag is much lower!
The Matein Travel Backpack has everything you need in a backpack: comfortable airflow back design, a large compartment for all your books and other school supplies, plus two smaller rooms for your laptop, tablet, and other gadgets.
Key Features:
- Two separate compartments big enough to fits two 15′, 14′, or 13′ laptops.
- It includes pockets for daily necessities like tech, pen, and key fob hook, and a compartment to make your item organized and easier to find
- An adjustable shoulder strap that relieves stress on the shoulder.
- A built-in USB charger outside and a built-in charging cable inside
- Made with breathable, durable, water-resistant, and polyester fabric.]
10. Convertible Tote Daypack
If you’re always on the move, you need a cheap bag that moves with you, and the Convertible Tote Daypack is that bag.
This convenient 2-in-1 backpack instantly converts into a fashionable tote — allowing you to design the pack in various ways depending on the occasion.
The pack is beautifully designed and carries well over the backpack. However, the over-the-shoulder mode isn’t as effective as we’d like.
Key Features:
- Waterproof nylon material.
- Dimensions: 16.5″L x 4.7″W x 12.2″H. And the weight is about one pound.
- Roomy space for your 15.6″ laptop, a few books, and other essentials. Plus, pockets are perfect for storing small items, like credit cards and keys.
- It has an external USB port to charge a device connecting to a power bank.
11. Himawari Laptop Backpack
The Himawari Laptop Backpack is durable and comes in dozens of gorgeous colors to express your style.
There are plenty of outer pockets, but the buckled close for the front pocket makes it look aesthetically fabulous.
When you open the inner pockets, it’s neatly organized for college students. There’s a room for everything—a 13-inch laptop, books, pens, hydro flask — plus many school/beauty supplies. You name it!
Key Features:
- The regular college backpack size fits plenty of stuff!!
- The dual padded and adjustable shoulder straps in the back are friendly and extra comfortable.
- Durable, breathable, and constructed from scratch-resistant nylon fabric.
- The bag comes in a wide variety of colors/styles.
12. Lululemon City Adventurer Backpack
Get ready for college with this eye-popping Lululemon City Adventurer Backpack.
It’s made of a soft, comfortable fabric that feels great and even better when combined with your favorite outfit.
It has a front zip pocket and side mesh pockets that can hold your essentials, like your phone or wallet. There’s also a little zippered pocket inside the main compartment to keep a laptop or snacks organized and handy.
The large main compartment easily fits all of your books, laptop, homework, or anything else you need to carry around.
There are also two smaller compartments on either side so you can store extra items like a journal, pencils, or pens.
Key Features:
- Durable polyester fabric is water repellant and easy to wipe clean.
- Reinforced construction carries a heavy load, stands up to wear and tear sweaty gears
- It also features a padded shoulder strap that makes carrying the backpack comfortable.
13. HotStyle 599s Simple Backpack
The HotStyle 599s Simple Backpack is an adorable pack with a unique vintage look. All of which fit standard school-sized supplies, overnight/gym apparel, and books, and a 14-inch laptop.
Stunning and unique shape. The square design offers a unique twist to the classical backpack.
It’s also among the top recommended cute backpacks for college students or anyone who just carries around a laptop. It also has several pockets, including a laptop’s protective sleeve area.
Key Features:
- Made of water-resistant, lightweight, sturdy polyester fabric and solid smooth SBS zippers.
- Plenty of room for school supplies, lunch boxes, or tech gadgets.
- It includes a 12-month warranty against manufacturing defects.
- 16 Litres medium-sized
14. KROSER Stylish Laptop Backpack
The timeless KROSER Stylish Laptop Backpack won the top honors as the best inexpensive compact bag.
It has enough storage, leather handles, and adjustable straps and comes with a built-in USB port. Perfect for the student who wants to return to the cafeteria in style.
Key Features:
- The PU leather/Nylon fabric is water-repellant, which is very essential (living where it rains almost daily a lot)
- Roomy space. It feels sturdy and durable, holding 15.6″ a laptop, tablet, file folders, charger, books, planners, and pens.
- The top handles come with a magnetic clasp.
- Up to 9 color options.
This post was all about cute backpacks for college students.
You may also like: