Many campus card offices struggle with the same challenge: getting large numbers of students through orientation without creating long lines and bottlenecks. Stephen Courchane, Director of the U Card Office at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, explains how his office tackled the issue. They did it by partnering with the orientation office to make photo submission a required step for orientation registration.

The team knew that increasing pre-arrival photo uploads was key to streamlining card issuance. They went through multiple iterations, ultimately requiring students to submit the photo before they could sign up for an orientation date.

Reducing lines and improving the student experience

The results were significant. Photo submission rates increased from roughly 50-60% to more than 80%. During the most recent period, 95% of students received their preprinted U Card during orientation check-in rather than waiting in long lines at the card office.

Our office used to have hour-long lines during orientation. Now we're busy from 8 to 10 a.m. handing cards out at check-in, but the rest of the day is quiet.

The improvements extended beyond operational efficiency. With permanent credentials in hand, students could access residence halls, meals, and classroom buildings during orientation without the need for temporary cards. That familiarity also helps students return in the fall already knowing how and where to use their credential.

Courchane's advice to peers is simple: identify campus partners that can tie photo submission to an existing student requirement, remain patient, and continue building support over time. Small process improvements and strong cross-department collaboration can ultimately transform both operations and the student experience.

To learn more about how they did it, watch the full interview by clicking on the image at the top of the page.

TRANSCRIPT:

I think we've faced the challenge that a lot of people have, which is figuring out how to get students through the card line without having long lines and long wait times.

For years, we have just been trying to think about how we can optimize that. We've talked to partners at NACCU as well as other schools and organizations that have had luck with that. One of the big things that we've heard from them is getting 100% of students to upload their photo ahead of time makes a big difference.

We've struggled with figuring out how do we get all of our students to upload their photo before they actually come for orientation. Talking to partners like Scott Brennan from Temple University and learning that they were requiring the photo upload step within their process for getting signed up on campus really helped.

Link with orientation is the key

We had this opportunity with the orientation office to make it a requirement that students upload their photos before they could sign up for an orientation date. By locking students into actually having to complete that step to move forward, we were able to increase the number of people uploading a photo ahead of time. This made it much easier for us to have cards ready to go at orientation.

We were able to eliminate having a line of people at our office. Instead, students go in one line. They get in line to check in for orientation, they get their U Card, and then they leave. It's a much more seamless experience for them and for us.

We built integrations with our systems so that if a student already has a photo in our system, they can skip that step entirely. They don't even see the step to upload their photo.

Specifically, what we did was we partnered with the orientation office to have them include a link to the photo upload site as a requirement. In the first year that we did that, students simply had to click the link to move on, but it didn't really require that they actually take the action once they clicked it.

This last year, we were able to make it so that students have to click the link and submit their photo before it unlocks the next step in the orientation checklist. That took us from maybe 70% of students completing the process to closer to 80% of students getting it done.

They also were able to create some integrations with our systems so that if a student already has a photo in our system, they can skip that step entirely. They don't even see the step to upload their photo. If they don't already have a photo in our system, they get locked into having to complete that step before they move on.

Now when orientation arrives, we've already preprinted the cards. We grab all those cards for that day and orientation session, hand those cards out to each student as they come through check-in, and then away they go.

The primary partnership was with the orientation office. They got a new director a few years ago, and when she came in, she asked, “Is there not a better way to do this?” We said, “We'd love to talk to you about that.”

Additionally, we've worked really closely with the conference and event services group out of the housing department because they're closely tied into orientation, summer conferences, meal access, and residence hall access.

Eliminating temporary cards, ending hour-long wait times

There are other benefits to increasing the photo upload percentage and getting U Cards into students' hands before orientation. Students can immediately use their U Card to access meals, residence halls, and classroom buildings. Instead of carrying multiple cards and being confused about which one to use, students arrive, receive their U Card, use it throughout orientation, and then return in the fall already familiar with it.

Before linking our photo upload process with other departments, we were seeing maybe 50% to 60% of students upload a photo ahead of time. We spent a lot of time trying to get students to upload photos during orientation so we could issue cards before they left.

During the first couple weeks of orientation last summer, close to 95% of students were able to receive their U Card at or before orientation began.

Now we're seeing upwards of 80% of students upload their photo ahead of time. During the first couple weeks of orientation last summer, close to 95% of students were able to receive their U Card at or before orientation began.

Our office used to have hour-long lines during peak orientation season, and now we really don't see any lines. We're busy from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. handing cards out at check-in, and then the rest of the day is very quiet.

My primary advice is to seek out departmental partners on your campus who can help connect photo uploads to a required student process. If you can find that partner, you'll make significant progress in getting students to complete the process before they arrive on campus.

Other than that, be patient and wait for opportunities. It took us years to get to this point. We kept looking for partners, implementing small improvements each year, making requirements a little firmer, and demonstrating the benefits to other campus departments. That increased buy-in and helped further streamline the student experience.