When 11,000 students arrived at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley last week they were given new identification cards, which in a sense, act as keys to the university.
The UNC Card features a picture of the student on the front, and a magnetic stripe on the back. It serves as a student ID, giving students access to campus facilities and events; as a paperless checking account, a debit card, a prepaid card, and a long distance calling card, among other things.
Minneapolis-based Norwest Corp., through its Colorado bank and its bank card unit in Des Moines, is providing the Norwest Instant Access Accounts that will allow students to deposit and withdraw money using automated teller machines on campus or Instant Cash and Cirrus ATMs elsewhere.
On campus, students can go to Cash to Card machines near the ATMs to add small-dollar value to the cards so they can be used with vending, laundry, and copy machines.
With the UNC Card, students can purchase products and services from more than 20 campus locations, using a personal identification number at the point of sale for security. Norwest is working with Greeley merchants to expand the program off campus.
Throughout the school year, Norwest and the university plan to add new features to the card, including a bill payment-by-telephone service, ministatements from ATMs, electronic transfer capabilities so that parents can deposit funds from their checking accounts to student accounts, and direct deposit of university payroll and financial aid.
Norwest will pilot the product at Northern Colorado during the 1994-95 school year, and introduce Instant Access Accounts to other colleges and universities in 1995.
Students can sign up for the account without paying annual or monthly fees, although they will be charged 25 cents for a purchase and 50 cents for an ATM transaction.
"We've designed a need-driven card," said Brian O'Hare, president, of Norwest Card Services. "Eventually, this product will grow beyond the university atmosphere and will have functionality in noncampus environments."
The university negotiated with MCI Corp. to obtain a reduced rate for the calling card feature: a 40-cent surcharge compared with other companies that charge 75 cents, and a significantly lower minute rate, said Chris Ahearn, director of information services for the university.
A voice mail system will be added to the program in January so that the university can communicate with students and students with each other. To access it, students will call the same 800 number they call to obtain account information with Norwest, MCI, and their customized bill payment service.
While the program is unique to Colorado, it follows a similar system designed by Florida State University and Columbus (Ga.) Bank and Trust Co. a few years ago.
About 35% of Florida State's 35,000 student body uses all options on the FSU Card, including banking services, said Connie Mansour, assistant vice president and manager of product development at Columbus Bank and Trust.
The key to the program's success, she added, is the expansion of acceptance with 200 off-campus merchants.
"The university is really training a group of young people to use cards," pointed out Dave Humphrey, a professor of finance at Florida State.
"It may prove to be worthwhile to the whole payment system. Certainly, it makes you receptive to keeping that relationship later on."
The National Association of Campus Card Users, based in Baltimore, was founded in 1993 to help colleges develop these debit card programs.
Of the 3,000 colleges and universities in the United States, 500 are involved in card activity, said J. Paul Melanson, the association's president and executive director.
The State University of New York, for example, is in the process of developing the largest debit card program to date to serve one million students, faculty and staff, Mr. Melanson said.
Some 200 schools belong to the association and communicate via electronic mail and at an annual conference. This fall, the group will compile a list of vendors that universities can work with on card projects.
