I actually went to Illinois State before transferring here and they already had a very similar system to the proposed illinibucks. ISU had redbird dollars (set amount that would replenish each month, can't have more than your max balance so you want to spend these) that were linked to your student ID and could be used at all campus vending machines and a good deal of restaurants that were in the student union. When I went there I would just use these redbird dollars on a nice iced coffee everyday because the balance is derived from what meal plan you chose. The redbird dollars and the amount of swipes to get into the dining halls worked in inverse of each other, so the more redbird dollars per month the less swipes in the dining hall you had per week and vice versa. After you moved out of the dorms (ending your reliance on campus dining) you would still be able to purchase redbird dollars and it would be charged to your student account, much like how printing charges are auto-charged in our libraries here. However after moving out of the dorms not many students would buy the redbird dollars as they most likely all started to cook their own meals instead (living in an apartment vs dorms).
As far as illinibucks go and cutting to the front of the line I'm not sure how practical this would be on campus. In my opinion the only restaurant that actually always has a very long that people would want to cut at is chipotle. However if a lot of students have the power to cut there and use it then it is just causing even more line problems. Hypothetically other restaurants could also use this idea to let certain students who qualify for the illinibucks to cut the line but I just do not see 'cutting line' as a practical use for this idea. The only other establishments I could think of where this idea could work would be the campus bars but I feel like it would be a logistical nightmare for the employees of the bar to deal with. Not only having to deal with unruly patrons and make sure everyone is of age to be in the establishment but also somehow redeem their illinibucks to let them cut? How would they redeem them? There would need to be some type of credit card scanner to redeem them on or else it would just be way too hard.
If anything I would like to propose the illinibucks be more similar to ISU's redbird dollars. Have the Ibucks redeem on the first of the month every month up to the amount that was paid for. Restaurnts around campus and on Green street could run deals different days of the week that could only be purchased with these Ibucks to incentivize people to go. If the administered price was too low then the restaurants would be losing money for the Ibuck only deals and if it was too high then not enough students would buy the Ibucks making the system not efficient.
I think you got into the mindset of using Illinibucks for food purchase because of your previous ISU experience. You might have considered other uses.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I believe closed door space for students to work on group projects, possibly where they have access to a touchscreen or an lcd projector, is in short supply. So Illinibucks might be used to get access to that sort of space. Other students have talked about using it for registering for classes that otherwise they can't get into because the class is over subscribed.
I wonder, if you got away from the food example, whether you could come up with other possible uses of Illinibucks and then consider what might happen if they were deployed.
Prof. Arvan,
ReplyDeleteI agree I did stray away from other examples/ uses of Illinibucks. After going back and reading through some other students posts I realize that I fully did not comprehend the exact proposed uses of Illinibucks. This is my fault , when I thought of places to 'cut line' I did not even consider academic examples. In the future I will be more cognizant of the prompt and what other students are posting about. Thank you.
Ben,
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Prof. Arvan that it seems your proposed examples all seemed to deal with food and restaurants. In my post, in addition to the use of priority class registration, I proposed the possibility of using Illinibucks to purchase a variety of things like coffee in between classes to extra notecards and school supplies at the Union Bookstore. I think this use is closer to your proposed uses. To me, it seems the intended use for this currency is for skipping academic lines. It seems we both like the idea of expanding this use, but that might just over complicate things in the long run.
Ben,
ReplyDeleteThe majority of your examples include skipping lines at restaurants which is an interesting view for the use of illinibucks because when I read the prompt I thought of more academic uses. I think it could be a good idea to use the illinibucks at restaurants in academic buildings such as the expresso royale in the BIF and UGL. This would encourage kids to spend more time in academic buildings and students would not have to worry about having money to buy a coffee or snack. In my post I thought a good use for illinibucks would be at the business career fair because the lines can become so long there students are unable to talk to all the companies they wish.