Since implementation of the availability of students to request the transferal of credit balance from financial aid or scholarships to their Colonel Cards, Colonel Card deposits have nearly tripled, Allison Ayo, director of the office of ID card operations, said.Ayo said the ability for students to pay any University credit balance with their Colonel Cards has become available recently, giving students the opportunity to pay such balances as for parking fines or tuition at Fee Collections in Elkins Hall or for library fines. Card readers at more vending machine locations will also be available before the fall semester.
“Students can also take their student employment checks and do direct deposits onto their Colonel Card if they choose to,” Ayo said.
Ayo said another new and helpful feature of the Colonel Card was its ability to help alleviate the long lines for last spring’s Crawfish Day, the annual University-sponsored event for students involving entertainment and crawfish for full-time students and faculty.
“The students used their Colonel Cards (by quickly swiping them in a card reader),” Ayo said. “(Crawfish day workers) didn’t have those long, long lists to look through manually.”
Ayo said the office of ID card operations is currently looking into the possibility of wireless card readers.
“Let’s say the food court area would want to go out into the quadrangle and sell food during the course of the day because some people might not want to walk to the back of campus. We’re looking at wireless readers where students would be able to use their cards in that type of setting.”
According to Ayo, restrictions for the Colonel Card are limited to Colonel Card deposits being non-refundable. “You cannot take money out of the Colonel Card (under normal circumstances). Colonel Cash rolls over from one semester to the next.”
Some locations in Thibodaux, including The Demitasse, offer discounts to Nicholls’ students who provide a Colonel Card upon purchasing. AMC Palace Theatre locations, including the AMC Palace Theatre 10 in Houma, also offer student discounts on movie tickets for those who present a student ID upon ticket purchase.
Ayo said: “Those locations really give discounts to those who show a Colonel Card on their own. They don’t have to request our permission or anything. That’s really not part of what we do here (in the Colonel Card office).”
Going into the Colonel Card’s third year this fall, Ayo said though students have always had identification cards, they have not always had the option of using that ID card as a University debit card.
“You get a student ID (and the student) automatically has an account should he choose to use it as a debit card,” Ayo said.
Ayo said there are three current locations where students can deposit money-cash, debit or credit into their Colonel Card accounts: in one of the two card management centers on campus-one in the lobby of the Bollinger Memorial Student Union and another in Ellender Library; at Fee Collections in Elkins Hall; and through the online card office at http://www.nicholls.edu/colonelcard/ where students or their parents can make instant deposits.
“We’re getting ready to add a third card management center in Peltier Hall,” Ayo said. “That’s three locations on campus where students have access to be able to add money to their card. It’ll be ready this summer.”
According to Ayo and the “Colonel Card: Why Pay Any Other Way?” pamphlet, since implementation of the Colonel Card, students can use Colonel Cash, the money deposited into their Colonel Cards, at many campus locations including the University bookstore, Godfather’s Pizza, Jazzman’s Caf, Sub-Connection in La Maison du Bayou off-campus apartment complex, copy and laundry machines, Selona Grill, Chick-fil-A, numerous snack and soft drink machines and concessions at John L. Guidry Stadium and Stopher gymnasium.
Ayo commented that students and University faculty alike seem to enjoy using their Colonel Cards. “It’s amazing the number of faculty and staff that use the card.”
“I’m really excited that the students are using the card and the fact that it’s a convenience that we’re providing for students,” Ayo said. “Especially during busy times in the food court and in the bookstore, for example, it’s so much easier for them to use their cards.”
According to the Colonel Card pamphlet, the Colonel Card office and the University are not responsible for charges made on lost or stolen Colonel Cards. Lost and stolen cards should be reported to the Colonel Card office at (985)-448-4498 or to the University police at (985) 4468-4746 to prevent unauthorized card use. There is a $10 replacement fee for the first card replacement and a $15 fee thereafter. For more information on Colonel Card operations and Colonel Cash, students may visit the Frequently Asked Questions webpage at the online Colonel Card office at http://www.nicholls.edu /colonelcard/faq.htm, send e-mail to [email protected] or call the Colonel Card office at (985) 448-4498 on Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
