New computerized PennCards are first step to cashless campus

A large-scale project is underway to make a new debit card system more user-friendly for the University community. Representatives from Dining Services, Residential Living and area retailers are working with students and a four-person administrative team to make Penn one of the first universities to use a student identification card that contains an integrated computer chip. As part of the plan, the PennCard is also being revised in order to make the debit card system possible. Beginning this fall, all newly issued PennCards will use computerized pictures, said Telecommunications Director Laurie Cousart, who is also project leader for the investigative PennCard team. The new IDs will use plastic cards, making alterations almost impossible, according to the Director of Student Financial Services Operations John De Long. "The new card will prevent a lot of shady business from happening," De Long said. The search is currently underway for a company to provide the University with a cost-efficient integrated chip for use in the PennCard. De Long said the chip could be used as early as November or December of this year. The PennCard can be used as an electronic cash card, with access to vending and laundry machines, copy machines and Penn Student Agencies commissaries, he said. Differing from the first proposed debit card with a magnetic strip, the card with a chip would not require machines around campus to be wired. "The first debit card was almost impossible to implement because of all the expensive wiring," Cousart said. "The card with the chip is much more practical." She added that using the chip will make it possible to provide the same services both on and off campus, without charging wiring fees. Cousart said it will therefore be easier for both the University and vendors. Eventually, the PennCard with a chip will be used in other innovative ways. "When we have everything working properly, students should be able to swipe their cards at residences and have their computerized pictures appear on a screen for the guards," De Long said. "This type of process will make it so much easier to apprehend unwanted visitors." Students will not be required to possess the new PennCards. All cards issued beginning this fall will have computerized pictures and De Long said that the chip will probably follow later this year. In order to avoid crowds, the PennCard committee is planning to organize separate registration booths once the chip card is implemented. Cousart said she is very excited about the new technology. "I think it will be really cool," she said. "This is really new stuff and we are right on it." Currently the University of Florida and Michigan State University are the only two schools that use an ID card with a chip.

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