After years of speculation and discussion, Binghamton University’s BUC$ Debit Card has finally moved off campus. Beginning yesterday, March 26, students can use their BUC$ card on, as well as off, campus at 12 participating locations.
Before including off-campus venues, BUC$ could be used at on-campus vending machines and to pay for photocopying and printing at the Glenn G. Bartle Library.
‘We’ve been working to expand BUC$ to off campus for several years,’ said Anna Cornell, the director of finance and planning for the administration. ‘But monetary transfer laws are very complex so we brought in OCDN (Off Campus Dining Plan) ‘ which is a very established company in this field ‘ to help.’
Stores currently participating in the BUC$ Off Campus launch include: Adriano’s Pizza, Campus Wings and Pizza, Far East Kitchen, Grande’s Bella Cucina, Home Deli, Nezuntoz, CyberCafe West, Tully’s Good Times, two CVS branches and two Domino’s Pizza locations. Soon to be added are a Cold Stone Creamery and Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina, both of which will be opening soon at University Plaza.
Students should expect the list of participating merchants to grow as the semester continues.
‘There are more [businesses] now,’ Cornell said. ‘Every day we get a few more.’
‘I was approached about it [the BUC$ program] about a month ago,’ said Jeff Kahn, owner of the CyberCafe West. ‘I think it’s a great idea for businesses.’
To use a BUC$ account, a student needs nothing more than their Binghamton University ID card. Money can be added to the account by either calling or going to the Meal Plan Office in the Old University Union or by using one of the Card Management Centers that can be found in both the Bartle and Science Libraries. The Card Management Centers can also be used to activate a BUC$ account if you don’t already have one.
An off-campus BUC$ system has also been at the forefront of Student Association presidential campaigns.
‘The main difficulty that I ran across was that I couldn’t talk to the businesses myself,’ said former SA president and Binghamton alumnus Mike Smyth.
Current SA President Michael Schiffman said he faced many of the same difficulties as Smyth.
‘I would call someone on campus who was involved with this, they would call someone from Blackboard, that person would call their lawyers, the lawyers would talk, they would get back to the Blackboard rep, the Blackboard rep would get back to our contact on campus ‘ Schiffman said. ‘It would be a few weeks sometimes before a simple question was answered.’
‘But we finally got to where we are now, and that is what’s important,’ he added.
After years of discussion and preparation, the expansion of the BUC$ system is expected to be well-recieved by students.
‘Other schools have similar systems and their students absolutely love it.’ Schiffman said. ‘Now students at Binghamton will have the opportunity to take advantage of this convenience.’
For more information about BUC$ Off Campus, visit the website at http://binghamton.ocdn.com