Cafe punch cards, bus passes
Resources for students
Many students can barely find funds for their tuition and fees; how are they supposed to pay for meals and transportation as well, especially at the beginning of the term before financial aid checks arrive? For students signed up for financial aid, UCC has options.
Students can charge cafe punch cards and bus passes onto their financial aid account during the first week of the term. This allows them to buy meals in the campus cafeteria and utilize the Umpqua Transit bus system. Financial aid locks after that.
Students can, however, still buy cafe punch cards and bus passes with cash at any time after the first week. The cards and passes can be purchased by both financial aid and non-financial aid students.
Cafe punch cards cost $25 and never expire. The punch cards are similar to the stamp cards that Dutch Bros offers. These cards are valid until the balance is all punched out. Bus passes, unlike cafe punch cards, cost $50 and do expire at the end of each term.
“They both can be purchased at any time but if a student wants to get one and have the cost of it come out of their financial aid, then it needs to be purchased before their aid disburses onto their account, usually at the end of week one,” Honey McNamara, UCC’s cashier, said.
Students and staff buy cards for their children to use.
“It does not matter if they are cash pay or being charged against financial aid. They are punch cards valued at $25, so when all of the punches are used up they can no longer be used. We do limit students to two cards ($50.00 worth) charged against financial aid,” McNamara said.
Each cafe punch card is numbered and the SID number of the student who purchased it is written on the back. However, the cafeteria doesn’t check the numbers, so if a student loses a cafe punch card, anyone who finds it can use it.
Cafe punch cards and bus passes can be purchased from the cashier. Students, specifically financial aid students, can purchase them in the Campus Center during the first week of each term to charge to their account. After that, students can purchase them in the Administration building.