More local businesses accepting CampusAccess

With just one swipe of a plastic ID card, students can buy snacks in dorms, purchase books and supplies, hit the tanning bed, or pay for laundry without having to scrounge up a handful of quarters.\nThis year, more businesses have been added to the list of nearly 40 locations off campus that allow students to pay with their CampusAccess cards. \nDonatos Pizza on Third Street began accepting CampusAccess cards last month to boost business. \n"We wanted to increase our campus marketing and bring in more business from IU students, not just from residents," said Ross Savage, a shift manager at Donatos. \nSavage said the amount of pizza deliveries has increased with this new service because all students have to do when they call is read off the numbers on their Access cards, like they would if they were paying with credit or debit cards.\nAside from Donatos, students can now use their cards at places like the Encore Café, Malibu Grill, Bucceto's Smiling Teeth, Texas Roadhouse, T.I.S. College Bookstore and Sol Spa Tanning. \nTeresa Ray, manager of the Campus Card Services offices, said she hopes to add 10 more businesses within the next year. Usually businesses are the ones who request adding this service, Ray said, because they want more students to frequent their establishments.\n"It makes things simpler for the students," Ray said. "They don't have to carry cash or change, and most of them have their cards on them all the time. It's faster than paying with cash when they go through the lines and is more convenient for students and staff."\nCampus Card Services made it possible to manage accounts online a few years ago, Ray said, giving students and parents an added convenience. Once online, students can view their past transactions, suspend their cards if they are lost or stolen, and, with a credit card, they can directly deposit money into their account.\nFreshman Mallory Deckard said her Access card has been useful this year.\n"It's more convenient because I don't have to use my own spending money," Deckard said. "My parents put money on my card as I need it, and they don't have to worry about meeting up with me to give me cash."\nOther students agree that the card makes laundry more convenient, but freshman Lauren Marshall rarely uses her card to go to restaurants off campus because she said she's still spending money whether it's on the card or in cash.\n"You still have to put money on the card," Marshall said. "It's my money and using it for food and stuff is still spending my own money."\n-- Contact staff writer Lindsay Lyon at lrlyon@indiana.edu.