The smart phone is the natural progression for identification, and tech savvy college students will be the ones moving this forward, according to Heartland Payment Systems.

Colleges and universities have always been on the leading edge of identification technology, moving from paper card to a Polaroid photo in a laminated pouch to PVC plastic cards using direct to card and high definition printers. And once again they are helping to move the ID to the next level: the mobile credential.

Mount Holyoke College in Mass., St. Thomas Aquinas College in New York and University of the Sciences in Philadelphia are beginning to offer the mobile ID to their students. Students from these campuses can now use a mobile application to provide their virtual digital credential, their mobile ID, in the same manner as they would present their plastic ID card.

The application pulls all necessary data that would appear on a plastic card, including their student photo, and virtualizes it in the application. When needing to show or use their identification card they simply tap the app, the mobile credential looks exactly like their plastic card.

These campuses did not stop at the mobile credential. They have moved beyond the ID to include the daily functions the students are familiar with using their plastic cards, such as for purchases at laundry, vending, dining halls, photocopiers, printing and more. And, if the campus allows, it can even be used at off-campus merchants for purchases.

SecurityInfoWatch.com has reported that two-thirds of students are interested in using their phone in place of an ID card. Students feel that they are less likely to lose their phone than an ID card, and it’s so much easier to use an app on their phone versus digging into their bags for their campus cards.

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