Campus Cards Go Mobile with Heartland’s OneCard Mobile App (April 23, 2014)
As campus identification cards doubling as reloadable prepaid cards become more prevalent on college campuses, they’re also becoming more integrated into student life via smartphone. Case in point: Heartland Payment Systems, a Princeton, N.J.-based payments processor, has launched the OneCard Mobile app following successful testing on several college campuses, according to an announcement.
The app is compatible with Apple iOS and Google Android platforms, and patent-pending technology enables students to use their smartphones as a virtual ID card, make payments for services and activities, and gain access to campus events and buildings. The app, which is available to OneCard cardholders, cannot be used for tuition payments.
Students can make in-store purchases at POS terminals on campus that are connected to a network as part of the OneCard system, which enables the app to interact with terminals through a Web service, a Heartland spokesperson tells Paybefore. Students use the app to select a transaction location from a list, a map, by scanning a QR code, through a prompt or by entering the POS terminal number. The app also uses geofencing software, or global positioning and proximity technology, so students may access locked buildings and classrooms.
Washington, D.C.-based campus card program provider Blackboard Inc., a 2013 Paybefore Award winner, also has been testing mobile payments on and around college campuses, including NFC-based pilots launched last October at Tulane University in New Orleans and Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. The pilot programs were expected to last through next month.
Campus ID/prepaid card programs have proven beneficial, whether it’s a college’s ability to expedite benefit disbursements, financial service providers developing relationships with younger consumers, or students’ quicker access to financial aid or funds for books and meals. These programs also have caught the attention of government agencies and watchdog groups that have questioned fees and other rules of some campus card providers.
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