Penn State is prepping for changes to its meal plan for the fall 2017 semester that will consolidate six meal plan options down to just three. The new, streamlined structure is intended to simplify the meal plan selection process and better reflect students' weekly eating habits.
According to an official university release, the Campus Meal Plan is comprised of two components: a base cost and dining dollars. The base cost functions as a plan membership fee and carries the same dollar amount across all three levels. The base cost covers the fixed costs of operating residential dining facilities on all Penn State campuses — including maintenance, labor and utilities. Dining dollars, meanwhile are used to make purchases on campus and are available as a declining balance account.
Because the base cost is paid up front, students with a Campus Meal Plan receive a 65% discount on cash prices at all-you-care-to-eat dining locations on campus, a 65% discount on prepared items at a la carte residential dining locations, and a 10% discount on prepared items at retail dining locations. There are no discounts on pre-packaged items or at national chains.
The three levels of Penn State's new meal plan will offer an increasing amount of dining dollars and include:
Level 1: 7-10 meals per week
Level 2: 12-14 meals per week
Level 3: 16-19 meals per week
The meal counts are estimated, as the actual number of meals purchased by each student varies, while costs incurred will depend upon what the student purchases and the location of the purchase.
The meal plan level can be modified at any time during the semester until the last day of classes to ensure students have enough dining dollars available to make purchases. Leftover dining dollars from the fall semesters will carry over to the spring semesters, while any remaining dining dollars will be forfeited at the end of each spring semester.
By Neville Pattinson, Senior Vice President of Government Sales, Gemalto North America
Frank Abagnale successfully stole numerous identities and subsequently millions of dollars with a doctored license and a series of fake checks. He was so successful that it merited a feature-length Hollywood movie. Today, hackers are building ever more sophisticated tools for cyber fraud, often combining the use of a weak physical document with information accessed online.
For centuries, paper was the material of choice when it came to producing identity documents. From the 1970s onwards, plastic has gradually taken the place of paper for documentation purposes. But just like we are tackling cyber-fraud, people’s physical ID documents are still the primary form of identification and are one of the weakest links in identity chain. Polycarbonate, a new stronger material, is gradually gaining traction and could represent the next-generation in secure ID documents. But is physical ID document security taking a backseat to cybersecurity?
In addition to laser engraving, polycarbonate cards include other tamper-proof components that can be tactile, seen with the naked eye, or only visible with additional equipment
According to the CyberSecurity Market Report published by Cybersecurity Ventures, worldwide spending on software security to combat identity theft and cybercrimes will exceed $1 trillion over the next five years. Despite this investment, both government agencies and private-sector companies will remain vulnerable to fraud if the physical ID documents are not addressed. More than 15 million people in the United States fall victim to identity fraud each year in some capacity. Much of this fraud is not online, but rather the result of a fake identity cards created using tools in someone’s garage or basement.
Identity protection in today’s world cannot be accomplished with software alone. It requires a holistic approach that adopts both digital and analog solutions for the physical world. Technological advances, like polycarbonate for physical identification cards, are helping prevent identity attacks and are better preparing law enforcement to catch fraudsters. Polycarbonate card bodies for driver licenses, ID documents and even passports are providing a layered security approach to physical documents making them more complex to counterfeit.
So what exactly is polycarbonate? A few distinct features of this material make it uniquely beneficial for physical identification cards. These include:
Arguably, the most important advantage of polycarbonate is the security benefits that the material provides. Because polycarbonate cards are made up of multiple layers of plastic, it is nearly impossible for fraudsters to change the materials or security features without destroying the card completely. This makes the card body much more secure than other available materials.
Another aspect of polycarbonate is the laser engraving techniques used to embed an individual’s personal information into the card body itself. The laser engraving process adds markings deep in the document, adding another aspect that is extremely difficult to forge.
Beyond laser engraving, polycarbonate cards include other tamper-proof components that can be tactile, seen with the naked eye, or only visible with additional equipment. The level of security features vary but can be easily distinguished by law enforcement or other ID authorities. Once police officers or others are familiar with identifying the security features, verifying the authenticity of an identity document is much easier.
Recent improvements have resulted in a polycarbonate material that can support high-quality color photos. This advancement enables the combination of detailed colored photos with the highest available security technology available for physical identification. For example, deep-set embedding of micro-text in the images on polycarbonate documents make alteration to ID cards nearly impossible.
The actual material itself is another feature that sets polycarbonate apart from other ID materials. A type of thermoplastic technology – the same material used to make bulletproof glass – polycarbonate boasts excellent molding and thermoforming properties.
Polycarbonate cards are made up of layers of plastic that overlap and intertwine. It is impossible to separate the layers of polycarbonate, which are fused together using temperature and pressure. This layering process is one of the reasons that polycarbonate is so secure, as the intertwined layers of plastic make it nearly impossible to swap out document information or photos without completely destroying the document and rendering it useless.
Polycarbonate lasts longer than other physical ID materials. Typically, IDs and driver licenses last for about eight years. But testing has shown that polycarbonate cards can last beyond the ten-year mark, giving them a longer life than other materials.
In the U.S., there are more than 211 million driver licenses in circulation. Local government and law enforcement are currently facing the challenge of strengthening the security and integrity of these cards, while also having to issue more cards as the driving population continues to grow.
The card body technology gives governments, states and organizations a scalable canvas for further security enhancements. The surface of the identity document makes it ideal for various distinctive, easily recognizable textures, such as guilloches, designs, micro-text and latent surface images, created by positive or negative embossing. Other new security features include microscale 3D imagery, braille, optically variable surfaces with light reflecting elements, and animation effects such as ghost images.
All of these evolving security techniques make it difficult for fraudsters to keep up. In the U.S., both the federal and state governments are looking to polycarbonate. New York, Maryland and Colorado have already adopted polycarbonate technology for their personal identification cards and driver licenses, with the federal government moving to include a polycarbonate component in the U.S. passport.
Following a proposal from its associate dean of students, Boise State University is weighing up a potential meal sharing plan that would enable students to give unused meal swipes to fellow students in need.
As is the case at many institutions, some Boise State students frequently have leftover meal swipes at the end of each semester, and according to a report from student publication, The Arbiter, the university doesn’t allow these meal swipes to carry over. The proposed meal sharing policy would enable students to donate any unused meal swipes to fellow students.
In an interview with The Arbiter, Boise State executive director of campus services, Nicole Nimmons, said that successfully implementing the policy depends on negotiations with food service vendor, Aramark. “We have to figure out how many meals could actually be donated,” Nimmons said. “We want to make sure the distribution of unused meal swipes is done discreetly so students aren’t aware of who is using donated meals versus paid meals.”
Another consideration is that the university factors in missing meals when calculating the per-meal price for dining plans. According to the report, for a 19-meal plan, the university assumes as many as four or five will go unused.
University officials say that the proposed policy will see students have the option to either specify a specific number of meals they want to donate, or opt in to the program at the beginning of a semester. For students that opt in, the program would see all unused meals donated at the end of each week.
The policy is still in the planning stages and additional details need to be worked out before any concrete program can be set in motion.
A laundry machine shortage at one University of Mary Washington residence hall is showing just how important the service can be for residential students. A lack of washers and dryers at the university's Jefferson Hall is making laundry even more of a chore than normally is for students following lack of availability and hardware malfunctions.
According to a report from The Blue & Gray Press, the residence hall has only three washing machines and three dryers, despite playing home to some 82 students. The report goes on to state that the situation has persisted, with one washing machine being broken for a portion of this year and most of last year.
Last year, the basement of Jefferson Hall was renovated and in the process, cut the laundry room in half to make room for kitchen space for residents. The renovation, despite adding valuable cooking utility, also created a shortage of laundry machines and space. The subsequent machine shortage has created a bit of a logistical nightmare for residents, as the average total time needed to use both a washer and dryer takes about an hour and a half, or longer if clothes don't dry fully the first time.
Students can visit umw.esuds.net and check the availability of laundry machines in residence halls. The website displays laundry availability for every campus residence hall, and offers the option to sign up for notifications via email. The website also notifies students how much time is left on each machine.
The introduction of web portals, mobile apps and notification systems in the laundry room is a step in the right direction and a feature that many campuses are folding into their laundry services. Students, however, aren't convinced that the website and notification system will pose enough of a solution when the crux of the issue is a lack of laundry machines. The Blue and Gray report goes on to point out that with demand for the machines being so high in Jefferson Hall due to the shortage, more residents are constantly checking the web portal for open machines leaving little chance for walk-in availability.
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has launched a new campus mobile app designed to provide more convenient student access the campus' most frequently used systems and accounts.
According to a report from student publication, The Vermillion, the app is powered by Ellucian and is free to download in the App Store and Google Play. Ellucian’s app was designed to replace UL Lafayette's previous mobile app, which was released in 2010.
Once downloaded, students can enter their ULID to access services such as Zimbra mail accounts, ULink, Banner Self Service and account statements. Students can also access their class schedules via the app, as well as find direct links to UL Lafayette’s social media sites and RaginCajuns.com.
According to a university release, the app's interface is divided into various tabs to present users with the various utilities in a efficient manner. Within the app, a “Campus Information” tab provides the university website’s news feed and campus contact list. Also included is a “My UL Lafayette” tab that enables students to access courses, grades and financial aid information. Finally, additional features are housed in a “Tools and Resources” tab, which is then further segmented into Zimbra, Moodle and ULink options.
Campus visitors can also download the app for expedited access to campus news, an interactive map and mobile tour complete with addresses, as well as images and descriptions of campus buildings and landmarks.
In order to access the full suite of features, students must enter both their CLID -- a three-letter and four-digit code -- and their ULID -- a one-letter and eight-digit code -- to access their university accounts. The app requires only one login prompt to access all services. Campus visitors, meanwhile, don't have to log in to use the interactive campus map or university news features.