Georgetown University is continuing the process of fully incorporating the GOCard, a new student identification card that offers more services than the former student ID.
The old IDs will not open any campus dorms in the near future, according to Margie Bryant of the Office of Auxillary Services, which is heading the GOCard program.
New students will be given only the GOCard and returning students are required to obtain one, Bryant said.
The first-year dorms and laundry facilities have already been converted to the GOCard, Bryant said. Entering students will rely solely on the new ID to enter dorms, pay for laundry and eat at New South, the cafeteria closest to the first-year dorms.
Bryant said that upperclassmen laundry rooms and dorms remain in the process of being converted to the GOCard.
Students can place money in two separate accounts on their GOCard; into a Munch Money account for food purchases or into a new debit account that is more widely accepted on campus.
Munch Money is an addition to a student’s meal plan and is money only for “immediate consumption” of food, Bryant said.
Munch Money is accepted at some area restaurants, such as the Tombs and Dominoes, and the campus restaurants and coffee shops Hoya Court, Uncommon Grounds and More Uncommon Grounds.
The debit account is a separate account accepted at all on-campus stores, including the bookstore, and at some area restaurants. Its use is not restricted to food for immediate consumption and can be used in select drink machines and in all first-year laundry facilities.
Another feature of the GOCard is the ability to check and change money balances on the website, making it easier to monitor the accounts. Anyone with access to a student’s University ID number and password can add money to that student’s GOCard account .
The distinction between the two accounts is clear in the campus stores run by Students of Georgetown, Inc., as the new GOCard will change the way students pay for their purchases at Corp-run stores.
While the coffee shops Uncommon Grounds and More Uncommon Grounds will accept money from student Munch Money accounts, the remaining Corp stores, Vital Vittles, Movie Mayhem and Full Exposure, will only accept money from debit accounts.
This marks a change for Vital Vittles, the campus grocery, which last year accepted Munch Money.
In keeping with Auxillary Services’ definition of Munch Money as money for immediate food consumption only, Vittles is only accepting money on a GOCard from the debit account, said Leslie Baldwin (NHS ‘04), vice president of operations for the Corp.
At the same time, the Office of Residence Life is seeking a way to compensate Resident Assistants who have large amounts of Munch Money.
RAs were given $700 in Munch Money as part of their job compensation this year, RA Hormazd Kanga (MSB ‘04) said.
Kanga said he and the other RAs are hopeful that they will be able to use that money on the debit account, allowing them to purchase food from more places, including Vittles.
Students have expressed some confusion at the transition from the old ID and its system and the newer GOCard.
“I’ve heard a lot of student concerns. I think students are confused,” said Georgetown University Student Association President Kaydee Bridges (SFS ‘02).
Yet Bridges remained optimistic about the new ID.
“[Confusion] can be expected. It’s a transition period,” Bridges said.
