2008 Woodie Awards
SHOW ME THE MONEY!
Analyzing swipe card restrictions
Dylan Breslin-Barnhart and Cara Gallivan
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: News
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All too often, for far too many students, it seems there simply is not enough money to go around. They need that coffee, those concert tickets, and the coziest new Union "hoodie" to get them through the chilly fall days. Union bombards students throughout the Campus Center with ways to spend money, and many of them do spend it, only to end up wondering how they will afford to go out to dinner each weekend.
In walks Dutchmen Dollars. The program enables students to add money, as with a debit account, to their Union ID cards.
Dutchmen Dollars can be used off-campus at various restaurants and vendors, and the school is looking to add popular retailers, such as Wal-mart and CVS, as well.
In time, Union plans to add on campus services to the array of ways students can spend their Dutchmen Dollars. As Dan Detora, Director of Dining Services, explained, "[t]his could include many areas, such as the Bookstore, and tickets for Student Activities, like concerts."
And the list goes on, as the Dutchmen Dollars of the future may even encourage philanthropic behavior.
According to Detora, "many organizations would like to have the option of using a declining balance account for charitable events such as Fashion Show tickets or donations for various relief efforts; this could also be accommodated through Dutchmen Dollars."
Students have long wished for declining balance to be more functional, more useful at book-buying and cash-donating times. But many, especially upper-classmen, are confused about why this new program was created. Some are even wary of it, suspicious that the school has designed the debit account as a way of profiting further off of food and other costs of living.
As junior Brendan Kennedy put it, "The school must be getting a cut of the profits from the restaurants [through the Dutchmen Dollars program]. I don't see why else they would do it."
While it may seem that the existing declining program could just have been expanded, there are, in fact, certain legal restrictions preventing that.
In walks Dutchmen Dollars. The program enables students to add money, as with a debit account, to their Union ID cards.
Dutchmen Dollars can be used off-campus at various restaurants and vendors, and the school is looking to add popular retailers, such as Wal-mart and CVS, as well.
In time, Union plans to add on campus services to the array of ways students can spend their Dutchmen Dollars. As Dan Detora, Director of Dining Services, explained, "[t]his could include many areas, such as the Bookstore, and tickets for Student Activities, like concerts."
And the list goes on, as the Dutchmen Dollars of the future may even encourage philanthropic behavior.
According to Detora, "many organizations would like to have the option of using a declining balance account for charitable events such as Fashion Show tickets or donations for various relief efforts; this could also be accommodated through Dutchmen Dollars."
Students have long wished for declining balance to be more functional, more useful at book-buying and cash-donating times. But many, especially upper-classmen, are confused about why this new program was created. Some are even wary of it, suspicious that the school has designed the debit account as a way of profiting further off of food and other costs of living.
As junior Brendan Kennedy put it, "The school must be getting a cut of the profits from the restaurants [through the Dutchmen Dollars program]. I don't see why else they would do it."
While it may seem that the existing declining program could just have been expanded, there are, in fact, certain legal restrictions preventing that.
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