MU looks to expand E.Z. Charge off campus

The program would be available for use at select local restaurants.

By Amanda Capua

Published Oct. 1, 2010

E.Z. Charge could be a payment option at off-campus locations as early as fall 2011, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Cathy Scroggs said.

“Over the past few years, we’ve said no,” she said. “We don’t see anything stopping it, and we’re going to continue to explore the idea.”

Campus Dining Services Director Julaine Kiehn said off-campus E.Z. Charge would work just as the on-campus program does now.

“It would be a prepaid E.Z. Charge that would be paid by credit or debit card, cash or check,” Kiehn said. “It would all be paid ahead of time and never show up on the student bill.”

Scroggs said the money would be in a separate pre-paid account, and students would be able to put more money in the account when they wanted to.

Students would continue to use their student ID cards for off-campus E.Z. Charge. Student charge would not be a part of this new program.

Scroggs also said no vendors have been spoken to at this time, and they are far from talking to them about the new possible program.

“They would need to buy the needed equipment, and we’ll need to decide whether vendors with licenses to serve alcohol may participate,” Scroggs said.

Kiehn said the restaurants would need to pay MU a percentage of each sale.

“The university lawyers will need to approve it and draw up internal procedures,” said Justin Mohn, Missouri Students Association Operations Committee chairman. “We need to figure out how venders can apply for the program.”

Scroggs said there are no specifications yet, as they are still in the developmental process.

Mohn said one of the programs that was looked at when thinking of expanding E.Z. Charge was the University of Texas at Austin's Bevo Bucks.

“Bevo Bucks are a benefit to students to use both on-campus and off-campus,” said Nadine Kelley, program coordinator for the Division of Housing and Food Service at UT-Austin. “It provides a cashless and convenient way for students to make purchases both on-campus and locally.”

Bevo Bucks has been in place at UT-Austin for approximately seven years, Kelley said, and there are 70 off-campus and 30 on-campus participating vendors.

“Each merchant can offer a special one week out of the semester for Bevo Bucks,” Kelley said. “Bevo Buck merchants can submit advertisements to our residential cable information channel for no extra charge.”

Back at MU, off-campus E.Z. Charge would only be usable at restaurant locations.

“UT-Austin has a wider program with restaurants and stores,” Mohn said.

Other schools’ off-campus charging systems were researched, including Virginia Tech’s, Scroggs said. But MU’s off-campus E.Z. Charge would be its own entity.

“Barring the lawyers, we can’t find a reason not to do it,” Scroggs said.