PennCard with 'smart" features not yet required

Beginning this fall, the University's new "smart" PennCard will allow students to access broader services using the same card they use to enter residence halls and eat on the meal plan. The new PennCards were distributed first at Center for University of Pennsylvania Identification and now at the PennCard Identification Center at the southeast corner of 38th and Walnut streets. "We're hoping to open [at the new site] on [September] 3rd," Director of Telecommunications and Campus Card Services Laurie Cousart said. Cousart estimated that approximately 1,000 cards had been distributed as of August 29 -- mostly to new graduate school students but also to interested upperclassmen. And although returning students do not have to go to CUPID and get a new PennCard immediately, all University students will eventually be forced to get new identification cards. "We're hoping to recard the entire campus by the end of the semester," Cousart noted. "It may take us a little longer." Although some upperclassmen may oppose the idea due to the hassle of standing on lines to get a new card, Cousart emphasized the benefits of the new PennCard system over any potential hassles. The new PennCard already links the card's traditional University features to PNC Bank and the University of Pennsylvania Student Federal Credit Union so the PennCard can also serve as a money access center (MAC) card for members of either bank. And the University contracted with MBNA America Bank N.A. to provide credit cards with low interest rates and no annual payments to Penn students -- using the PennCard as the card. The MAC and credit card options are not mandatory -- students can get the new PennCard without activating either feature -- but the new card is required to use the new features. Beginning in September, the University will install new card readers in the Quad -- allowing students to use the PennCard's stored value chip to pay for laundry and vending services. Similar readers will eventually be installed in other residence halls, although Cousart said that there is "no schedule yet." She added that within six months the University should have "everything up and running." And as another part of the University's effort to make the new PennCard useful on and off campus, PNC Bank will soon send out mailings inviting local retailers to accept the PennCard for payment. The first off-campus merchants will most likely begin accepting the PennCard in early October, Cousart predicted hopefully. "I think for anyone who is getting it for all of the features that it has, it's going to be a really convenient new card to have," College sophomore Stefanie Allister said. Allister added that although she is not a member of either bank affiliated with the card, the PennCard's other services -- such as laundry and vending payment -- will be useful to her. And although she was able to bypass the long line for students waiting to get their photographs taken at CUPID by having had her picture taken before the end of school last spring, Allister said that staff members were suggesting that people who did not want a long wait should return another day. In fact, Cousart reported that PennCard distribution had "a rocky start" August 27, as "some of the network communications ? took longer than we thought." "We really want to ask for everybody's cooperation, patience and understanding as we get everything worked out," she added.