ID card: what no debt really means

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Posted: 4/4/08

As students have probably heard by now, the ID Center is working on making student ID cards have more useful features. So far, there have been very few negative things said about the possible changes.

Even though the ID card makeover might be another great attempt to help financially struggling students, the potential effects should be inspected.

After all, OSU has, in the past, implemented several programs with the intention of helping students financially. These were great programs that, for the time being, assisted struggling students, and they worked - until funding ran out.

One such program was Escape Hunger, a free lunch program hosted by ASOSU that was open to any student on campus. Escape Hunger has since been replaced with Meal Bux, which is only offered for a limited number of students, as there is inadequate funding to assist every student in need.

While none of the proposed ID changes increase funding for such programs, they do aim to increase individual students' funds. For example, it is proposed that student ID cards be usable at the book store to make charges to student accounts.

This would not give students money specifically for food, but it would free up some money in the beginning of the term that would normally go directly toward costly textbooks.

Some would say this would give students the chance to pay for their books in installments instead of paying for them all at once. But then students would have to take interest into consideration, and at the end of the term, students might find themselves in trouble with having to pay their student account bills.

If the interest adds up, or if students continue to put charges on their accounts - a textbook here, a prescription from Student Health Services there - then by the end of the term they may face not only a ridiculous bill, but a registration hold.

In turn, this little thing meant to make our lives easier will end up making our lives harder in the end.

Although many promote the change by saying it will not cause student debt, it might just cause a different type of debt and create new struggles for students trying to make it through school.

It important to weight out the pros and cons of the proposal, and it is also important to make sure the plan is carried out correctly. We, as students, have to make sure we look out for our credit, and that does include the balance we have with OSU.

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