Do these statements sound familiar?
The problem is that having an interactive real-time web site for your ID card program is no longer an option. Listed below are just a few reasons that having this tool available to your students is essential to the every day life of the college student as well as the future success of your card program.
Do you know how to increase the value of your card program?
By providing a tool that increases deposits, improves visibility on campus and one that empowers the students and staff to manage their account on their own will automatically increase the overall value of the program to your college and university.
Why do all banks offer online services to their customers?
Because they knew that empowering their customers to do banking 24/7 would ultimately make them more money. They were able to reduce the amount of visits and phone calls to the bank. Customers were able to check their balances, transfer balances, pay bills, review transactions plus a whole lot more. Because of this they were able to significantly reduce their staff levels. They were also able to hire more specialized staff to do higher level functions as opposed to answering a phone or handle a transaction at the counter. While they still required these functions to occur the amount was so significantly reduced that fewer people were able to handle the volume.
What would you rather your public safety officers be doing?
Perhaps it is not your public safety department that receives the phone calls from students to deactivate their lost or stolen card. Wouldn't you rather they were taking care of their primary responsibilities and not taking phone calls from students about the card they lost over the weekend? Do you even have a 24 hour operation that can handle these types of requests? Don't forget about those students that lose the one card that also serves as door access to their dormitory at 2 AM.
What is life like at the beginning of each semester?
Do you have to hire additional staff at the beginning of semester to handle the "crush" of students returning to campus? Do you have to pull additional staff from other areas to help out? Your college or university probably already allows students to register for classes online or at the very least over the phone. You can purchase student athletic tickets in advance or online. Your students have the ability to interact with their teachers through an online portal. So why should you continue to operate your card program like you were in the 1980's?
Do you allow card account deposits to be charged against their student fee bill?
If you do, how much time does your staff spend every day/week/month manually charging the student's accounts? If you do not, wouldn't you like to offer this service to your students?
Do your parents and students have the ability to track meal plan usage online?
You empower your students and parents to make better financial decisions regarding the level of meal plan that should be purchased based on past usage.
How do you track fraudulent credit card transactions?
By processing all of your credit card transactions online you centralize your transaction history. Thus you have a comprehensive system to track which credit cards were used and to which accounts the deposits were received.
How are you allowing your parents to properly budget for their students?
By allowing automatic deposits by calendar event you enable your parents to put their child on a monthly budget.
Do you offer payroll deduction to your staff?
Increasing staff usage of the card is critical to growing your card program. All card programs across the country are plagued by the same problem. No one really understands or appreciates the value of the program. By allowing staff to automatically deposit money on to their card by charging a debit card or processing an ACH transaction you gain yourself credibility amongst the administration. If they become accustomed to making purchases on a daily basis then they integrate the usage of the card into their lives.
How much time do you spend in meetings about PCI compliance?
If you remove all credit card processing from your ID office you have saved yourself from going to many meetings and hours of filling out paperwork. Instead you could place a computer in the office that could accommodate any walk in traffic.
How many trees are you killing by requiring people to fill out a contract before using their account for the first time?
The latest trend is to Go Green. Are you still asking your students to sign a contract before you assign the account to their card? Being online means that you can stop using all that paper.
Are you sending activity statements to your cardholders?
Federal Regulation-E requires that regular statements of activity be sent to all cardholders. Are you sending any statements? Are you sending paper statements? Are you sending email statements. All of the work and cost that goes into this activity can be saved by offering online regulation E compliant statements.
What are similar schools doing with their card program?
Have you looked at what other colleges and universities are doing with their web sites? Are they online? Do you think that a student would choose a school solely based on the online tools available to them? The answer is a resounding yes!