Mississippi State students have a new way to pay when dining out in Starkville – their MoneyMate cards.
Several restaurants and a few other businesses in town implemented the cards as a payment option at the start of the fall semester. This marks the first time the cards, which are also students’ university ID cards, have been available for use off campus.
Thomas Lindsay, the director of telecommunications which oversees the MoneyMate program, said early indicators show students are taking advantage of the new opportunity.
“It is still too early to get hard data,” Lindsay said. “But MoneyMate deposits are up and MoneyMate usage is up on campus. And [the cards] are also being used off campus,” he added.
The MoneyMate Web site said that MoneyMate cards are very convenient as an alternative to cash, checks or credit cards. Unlike credit cards and checking accounts, these cards have no service charges and cannot be overdrawn.
Tom Hinton, the general manager at The Grill in the Cotton District, said the cards have been used at his restaurant already. He said accepting cards was another way to offer service to MSU students.
The students seem very receptive to the idea, Hinton said.
Joel Van Der Weele, the assistant general manager at Harvey’s, said he felt accepting MoneyMate off campus was a good idea.
“It’s a wonderful thing to give students this payment option,” Joel Van Der Weele said. “People are using it. It’s probably the lowest percentage of payment being used, but it’s still being used.”
“People are now finding out that they can use it [MoneyMate],” Van Der Weele said. “I think it’s a great thing, and I think that it’s going to end up working very well.”
Aaron Reece, a manager at the Bulldog Deli, said some customers have used MoneyMate cards. He said that customer satisfaction is an important goal in any business, and if a new payment option brings in even one customer, it is a success.
Lindsay said the Student Association has requested the program for about two or three years.
“This year we found a service provider that we felt could provide this service without costing the university money. It hasn’t been financially viable before,” Lindsay said.
Lindsay said the service provider Blackboard, Inc., negotiated last spring and made a proposal to handle all the merchant sign ups and set up procedures.
Lindsay said Blackboard Inc., which is based in Boston, decided what businesses it would try to implement the MoneyMate system with based on student focus groups last spring. Based on that feedback, the company decided which businesses it would try to work with. This way the students were very involved in selecting the businesses that now accept the cards, he added.
For a complete list of the local businesses in Starkville that now accept Money Mate as a payment option, students can go online to the university information technology systems Web site at at www.its.msstate.edu/Services/
Accounts/Telephone/moneymate.php> or go to the Campus Card office at 12 Lee Hall.
Any questions about the Money Mate program, including how to start an account, can be directed to the Campus Card office at 325-3387 or toll-free at 1-800-678-5621.
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