By Tom Hutton
Conducting routine business transactions at KU will soon be easier for the university's more than 30,000 faculty, staff and students.
After more than 18 months' work, KU officials Wednesday announced an agreement with Commerce Bank, Lawrence, and CyberMark of Tallahassee, Fla., to turn common employee and student identification cards into "smart cards."
The cards will eventually allow members of the KU community to check out library materials, ride buses, do laundry, make purchases from vending and photocopy machines and buy foodstuffs, all with a single card and without needing to carry cash.
"This is an exciting move for the University of Kansas," Diane Goddard, KU's director of purchasing, said. "I believe we can use technology to improve the student experience at KU by increasing the convenience of routine transactions on our campuses."
Goddard was KU's liaison to the state Division of Purchases, which oversaw the vendor-selection process from an initial request for proposals to final contract award.
"Commerce Bank is pleased to work with the University of Kansas on this ambitious project," Jerry Samp, president of Commerce Bank, Lawrence, said. "By working together, the end product will be a benefit to the university's faculty, staff and students."
KU's new identification card will draw on microchip technology pioneered by CyberMark. Each identification card will have a 1k chip, which will allow holders to load up to $100 onto the card for routine purchases.
Another feature of the card will be long-distance calling. Additionally, the card will allow users to check out materials at KU's libraries and make purchases from on-campus vendors and merchant locations off campus. In the future, Goddard said, it may be possible for students to access transcripts and receive financial-aid refunds with the card. Another goal would be to eventually replace building keys with readers to allow access to secure areas only by authorized people.
All information on the card will be confidential. KU does not provide demographic information of its students or employees to third-party marketers.
In addition to the chip, the cards will carry a magnetic stripe. The stripe will allow people who open special checking accounts at Commerce to access those funds. The banking function allows students, faculty and staff automatic- teller-machine access and debit-card access with the new card. Under the agreement with CyberMark, card readers will be installed throughout campus over the next several months and the process begun to provide the new cards to the campus community.
While many details remain, it is likely that the new identification cards will be issued first to returning KU students as they pre-enroll for the fall 1998 semester. Enrollment begins April 3.
Members of the campus community will be able to add funds to the chip on their cards by accessing re-value stations on campus and at a planned Commerce branch at the Kansas Union.
ATMs also are planned for the Lawrence and Edwards campuses.
Campus business transactions, such as checking out a library book or making a purchase from a vending machine, will be without a service fee, Goddard said. Normal fees will apply for those using their cards at non-Commerce ATMs to access their special checking accounts at Commerce. Withdrawals from Commerce ATMs will be free when KU identification cards are used to make the withdrawals.
CyberMark has participated in smart-card installations at eight institutions, including Florida State University, Tallahassee, and Villanova University, Villanova, Pa., as well as debit-card programs - using cards with magnetic stripes but without the chip technology - at more than 60 schools.
Commerce has participated in debit-card programs at Fort Hays State University and Wichita State University.
Commerce also has worked with Kansas State University in the development of its new identification-card system, which uses chip technology.