University Times

Like banks when they installed ATM machines in the 1980s and supermarkets when they placed credit card machines at checkout counters a few years ago, Pitt will take a giant step toward the cashless society this fall with the new PittCard identification card.

Staff from the ID Center began issuing the card on which funds can be deposited to students in late August and will start issuing them to faculty and staff on Sept. 23. All current ID cards, including those held by members of the Board of Trustees and the families of faculty and staff, will be replaced by Dec. 31. PittCards are being issued on the Pittsburgh campus, as well as all four of Pitt's regional campuses.

"Everybody who currently has an ID card will receive a personalized letter inviting them to a time and date so that they don't have to stand in long lines to get an ID card," said Lynell Scaff, director of the ID Center. "Students will be alphabetized, faculty and staff will be by departments. Then we will have make-up days in case people miss their times." Similar in size and design to a credit card or a MAC card, the PittCard will replace the approximately 60,000 ID cards now in the hands of students, faculty, staff and other individuals affiliated with the University. In addition to allowing members of the University community to check out books from the library and ride campus shuttle buses, the new PittCard will enable holders to do such things as make long distance telephone calls, photocopies in the library and purchases in The Book Center and The Pitt Stop.

Eventually, the PittCard also will be accepted off-campus at stores, restaurants and other businesses in Oakland, Shadyside and Squirrel Hill. Businesses that already take American Express cards will be signed up by the card company to accept the PittCard.

The PittCard is a joint project of Pitt and American Express, which is bankrolling the effort to the tune of $1.8 million. Similar card projects are underway at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Weaver State University in Utah and South Dakota State University.

Pitt was approached by American Express to become part of the project because of its size, complexity and urban setting, according to Scaff. The credit card company is paying for the switch from the old ID cards to the new PittCard because it sees university students, staff and faculty as rich veins of new customers.

"All the equipment that is being installed and all the new technology on campus is being done through a partnership with American Express Special Teams," said Scaff. "The University put out zero capital dollars to fund the program." Part of the contract with American Express also calls for paid internships for Pitt students. The number of Pitt students who will be hired as interns by the company has not yet been established, according to Scaff. However, she added, Pitt students hired by the company not only will be working at the University, but also at other American Express locations around the country.

"We wanted the new internships," Scaff said. "That was very important to us. It's one thing to get everybody carded and new technology on campus, but it's another thing to have the program continue to give back [by employing students]." From now until January, the focus of the program will be on issuing cards and acquainting card holders with using the PittCard as a long distance calling card. Each new card will contain 10 minutes of free long distance calling time. An additional 10 minutes of free calling time will be added to the card for everybody who loads a minimum of $10 on it before Oct. 31. Beginning in January, according to Scaff, the push will shift to encouraging students, faculty and staff to use the PittCard for the purchase of on-campus goods and services, including tickets and food at Pitt Stadium and the Fitzgerald Field House.

In FY98, the focus will move toward using the card at off-campus businesses. Finally, in FY99, departmental cards will be issued with budgetary amounts deposited on them for routine departmental purchases.

According to Scaff, departmental cards will greatly cut down on paperwork and expenses associated with relatively small purchases such as stationery. It currently costs $32 to process every inter-departmental charge. The PittCard will cut that cost to $2. That will save Pitt an estimated $500,000 in inter-departmental charges in the first year of the program.

Besides being slightly smaller than the current ID card, the new PittCard will not require a validation sticker. Neither will there be a certain time period after which the card must be replaced. PittCards will be replaced free of charge if the photograph becomes outdated or a person legally changes his or her name. Information on a person's employment or student status will checked by computer. The new card is different than the old ID card too in that it uses a video image instead of a Polaroid photograph. Video imagining will make it easier and quicker to replace a lost card because the image of the card holder already is in the University's computer system.

If a card is lost, the owner needs only to call the campus police. They will immediately invalidate the lost card so that nobody else can use it. "We can protect your card from that point in time and issue a new one with a new video image with the same amount on it as was remaining on the old card," said Scaff. "You don't even need to have your picture retaken." The one draw back is cost. Individuals who lose a PittCard will be charged $20 for a replacement, compared to $10 for the old ID cards.

For security reasons, the new PittCards will not contain the printed birth date or Social Security number of the card holder. That will make it more difficult for someone to use information on the card to send away for a credit card in the holder's name.

Birth dates, Social Security numbers and other such information will be encoded on a magnetic strip on the back of the new cards, as will the amount deposited on the card. Funds can be deposited on the card through credit cards or MAC cards at several card management centers that will be set up at various locations around campus, or by check at the ID Center in McCormick Hall.

Faculty and staff also can have funds deposited to their PittCard through payroll deduction. Statements will be available at all machines that accept the cards.

As a rule, funds remaining on the PittCard at the end of a term will be carried over until a student graduates or an employee leaves the University. Students who graduate or employees who leave Pitt and still have $10 or more remaining on their card will receive a full refund, according to the agreement with American Express. The company is not obligated to refund any amount under $10. A copy of the agreement with American Express will be issued with each PittCard.

–Mike Sajna