Sept. 28, 2012 —
We again tip our hat to Bill Redwine, Doug Snedegar and the others at Morehead State University who introduced “Beaker Bucks” into the Morehead business community two years ago.
Those “Beaker Bucks Welcome Here” signs translated into sales to MSU students and staff to the tune of almost $45,000 in the past two months alone.
At present, “Beaker Bucks” are accepted by 13 area retail merchants, primarily food outlets but including one gasoline station.
And efforts are ongoing to offer them to local merchants who sell other services to college students.
“Beaker” is the nickname of the athletics mascot at Morehead State University.
“Beaker Bucks” are monies on deposit on MSU’s student ID card (EagleCard) which also serves as a debit card for campus-based food sold by Aramark and other campus-based vending services such as laundry and convenience copy machines.
This is the third year that MSU students can use their “Beaker Bucks” to buy commercial food and other goods and services at off-campus locations.
In the 2011-2012 school year, MSU students spent more $165,000 in 20,567 transactions for off-campus purchases through “Beaker Bucks”, according to Redwine, MSU’s assistant vice president for auxiliary services.
That grew from 16,850 transactions worth $122,641 in the first full year of the program.
“Based on what is happening early in this school year, this program is continuing to grow steadily and is becoming even more important to our community relationships,” Redwine said.
Merchants pay a small commission on each purchase to cover processing costs for transactions which are done in real time through secure connections with daily settlements to each outlet.
Larger institutions in larger communities have offered off-campus use of institutional debit cards for several years.
MSU’s record enrollment growth this fall shows that it is becoming more competitive in terms of attracting students and this program obviously is an amenity that is popular with students and their families.
The development of cost-effective debit card technology made the program affordable to thousands of MSU students and employees and to Morehead area businesses.
Thanks to MSU’s investment in that technology, growing amounts of “Beaker Bucks” are ending up in local cash registers.
That’s another example of how Morehead and Rowan County have benefitted from having MSU here for the last 125 years.
In our opinion, the “Beaker Bucks” program is a sweet deal for campus and community and it’s getting sweeter each year.
Editorials
‘Beaker Bucks’ making cash registers sing
- Editorials
-
-
Governor made good decision on Medicaid
What do you do if you’re the governor of the state with the unhealthiest citizens in the U.S.?
-
Seizure of phone records insult to free press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
-
EKU Regents latest to lose touch with reality
We criticized Murray State University’s Board of Regents for not doing the public’s business openly regarding the future of President Randy Dunn.
-
Beshear makes right call on tree nursery
Thank you, Gov. Steve Beshear, for a decision that will positively affect Kentucky’s woodlands for decades to come.
-
Let citizens draw districts, not politicians
We say “amen” to our colleagues at the Lexington Herald-Leader who have called for a new method of realigning legislative districts to balance population changes from census to census.
-
UK’s secrecy sending the wrong message
Someone in leadership at the University of Kentucky must have forgotten about higher education’s historic commitment to a free and open search for truth.
-
Morehead Tomorrow is worth keeping
It was established in 1998 under the name of Morehead Downtown Association, Inc., and changed its name in 2005 to Morehead Tomorrow, Inc. (MTI).
-
Time for the other MSU to shape up
“No man can serve two masters.” That timeless, Biblical advice is found in the sixth chapter of Matthew. In the case of Murray State University today, that advice might be paraphrased to say that no institution can be served by two presidents.
-
Farmer building new ‘Unforgettable’ label
University of Kentucky basketball fans who fondly remember “The Unforgettables,” the 1991-92 edition of the Wildcats, may need to edit those good memories.
-
Which Mitch will be on the ballot next year?
We seldom agree with his policies or his tactics but we make no secret of our admiration of Mitch McConnell’s political survival skills as the senior U. S. senator from Kentucky.
- More Editorials Headlines
-
Governor made good decision on Medicaid
