Whether one of our students is buying a Coke or paying tuition, the FSU Card has made these and a host of other transactions a whole lot easier, saved time and often, money. No need for pocket change; no more long lines. Once more Florida State leads the nation in the application of new technologies.
What was once a simple student ID is now a double, magnetic-strip plastic card with banking and pre-paid value features. It will soon be a smart card with an electronic-circuitry chip that can supply and retrieve information of all kinds.
Nearly 40,000 students, faculty and staff have FSU Cards, and a new kiosk network is providing even further services. At six kiosks around campus -- by the end of the year it will be 20 -- students will be able to update addresses, print transcripts and class schedules, look at a campus map, apply for graduation and use other services.
Since its official opening in March of this year, the FSU Card Application Technology Center has been leading the nation in card application technology. Recognized nationally on CBS television and in newspapers throughout the country, the center continues to change the future of college administration.
Administrators come to our campus to learn about our smart-card know-how, and, through an alliance with MCI, we send our consultants to campuses around the country.
The card center has conducted 13 two-and-one-half-day seminars which were attended by more than 200 administrators from more than 75 colleges.
But more significantly, FSU and MCI have become technology partners for implementing "one-card" programs.
Together, we have contracted with the State University System of New York, and over the next couple of years will issue tailor-made cards at 86 schools to more than a million students and 150,000 faculty and staff. Twelve other universities -- such as Ohio University, Western Kentucky University and the University of New Mexico -- have been "carded." About 50 more schools will be "carded" by the end of the year.
In Tallahassee, merchants are lining up now more than ever to become part of the program and honor the FSU Card for its purchasing power. That power has grown by leaps and bounds as the vast majority of students receiving financial aid elect to have the money electronically transferred to their FSU Card accounts. Most will be spent on tuition and books, but a large portion will be spent on meals, supplies and other student needs.
Through these types of programs, everybody wins -- the student, the university, the community, the state and our partners. Together, we are improving the administration of higher education. And we are adding new partners in this endeavor.
In the near future, we expect to add services to the card that will involve new partners in security access and in on-line computer services that will place powerful research tools in the hands of our students and faculty.
We already have the smartest card in the nation, but it is going to get even smarter.