Administrators should bring change to bonus bucks

If you have been a student on this campus any time from a few weeks to several years, college regulations on meal plans have made you familiar with the school’s “Creative Dining Services” as well as the alliterative “Bonus Bucks” program.

Regardless of one’s personal feelings toward the quality or creativity of the food served at CSC, almost all of us can relate to being perpetually tormented with the inexorable questions of “How many meals have I had this week?” “What’s the balance on my bonus bucks?” “I wonder if I can get an extra side with that meal . . .”

These and other questions form a deluge of inquiries that, for all but the most organized, drown one’s head in a flood of doubt and uncertainty.

For those who might say, “Well, of course I have thought those things, but couldn’t you just ask for your balance?”

In an ideal world, of course you could; but everyone has seen that person ahead in line who takes his time pondering exactly which combination of vegetable items to add to a sub sandwich and then, when checking out, has to hold up the line again to ask the attendant to look up the balance of bonus bucks and find out how many meals remain that week.

At best, it is a slight inconvenience for some; and at worst, it is an inexcusable waste of everyone else’s precious time.

How, then, can this problem be rectified so that the forgetful and the organized will not have to stress over such an all-encompassing obsession as providing sustenance for one’s body?

The good news is there are several practical options to consider. It could be as simple as installing an external monitor to the check-out computer which would allow the scanning individual to view their balance, or it could be as pragmatic as following the same format one uses when attempting to find out the balance of that gift card you received for your birthday last year.

The college could create an online balance program in concert with its established website that would serve the dual purpose of increasing student traffic through the site (providing school administrator’s the opportunity to increase student awareness about important notices and updates), and allowing students to make account inquiries at their convenience.

This would provide students with a vast amount of flexibility to perform balance inquiries, account maintenance, and the ability to keep account info current.

The system could even be expanded to include the option to add additional bonus bucks and thus “reload” student ID cards via an online account.

In conjunction with writing this article, I have also researched several companies that sell a balance-inquiry, e-program that is featured on an already existing website, such as our own csc.edu, for example.

Even if the satisfaction and happiness of our students weren’t enough incentive, budget-conscious administrators would be happy to know that start-up costs for such a program are $100 plus a $30 monthly fee for the entire program.

At this phenomenally low price, the entire balance inquiry program could be implemented with the funds from a single student’s semester fees.

Imagine it, the good of nearly 3,000 people in exchange for the paltry sum of a sole student’s fees – for one semester a year only. Whatever way the balance program is installed – be it through external monitor or via an online platform, administrators should keep up with the technology and the students will be grateful (not to mention well informed).