Campus ID News
Card, mobile credential, payment and security
FEATURED
PARTNERS
cover cards 1

Re-evaluating revalue: Online vs. metal box

Andrew Hudson   ||   Sep 17, 2015  ||   , ,

Online is perfect fit for one community college

Heartland client Tompkins Cortland Community College is one campus where online revalue is the best fit. The college has cashed in its one and only value transfer station, instead offering online and in-person revalue.

“We removed our value transfer station from campus and either have deposits made online or in our office,” says Tova Sturmer, director of campus card services at Tompkins Cortland Community College. “Our online deposits account for at least 75% of our total deposits.”

Our campus deposit machine was strictly accepting cash and because of that it didn’t see much use,” explains Sturmer. “It was cost prohibitive to keep the machine up and running, and with a major remodel of the campus in the area that the machine was located, it wasn’t worth the cost to relocate or purchase a newer model.”

Tompkins Cortland uses Heartland’s OneWeb solution for online deposits. There is an annual maintenance fee plus normal transaction processing fees. “For us, the cost for all of that combined is more than the cost of the deposit machine annual maintenance fee, but the added cost of online is well worth the time savings for both myself and our users,” says Sturmer.

As for the value of moving the service online, Sturmer is more than convinced. “The convenience of online deposits has helped tremendously, and having a mobile app that allows reloading on the fly is priceless,” she adds.

A combined approach

While the future of revalue may well leverage a comprehensive online solution, a combined approach that incorporates both online revalue and value transfer stations may provide the best service near term.

“The cash option will be the first to disappear,” says Blackboard’s Pawlak. “If you remove the cash from the situation, you remove some of the risk that’s associated with these machines.”

That being said, he sees a need for these machines for the foreseeable future, five years at least.

CBORD’s Perkins agrees that a combo offering provides a campus with an effective revalue solution. “Campuses are implementing online solutions, but they are not necessarily displacing automated revalue stations in the process,” Perkins says. “They are complementary approaches to delivering services on campus, and both have their place in a full-service environment.”

“The machines facilitate unattended cash deposits not possible online, they dispense visitor cards and they are still popular for on-the-fly deposits for print and library applications,” he says.

[pullquote]Machines facilitate unattended cash deposits not possible online, they dispense visitor cards and they are still popular for on-the-fly deposits for print and library applications[/pullquote]

So while the future of campus card account revalue seems destined for the Web, it’s clear that value transfer stations still have some role to play on campus.

“The dynamics of every campus program can vary quite significantly and related costs for third-party credit card processing and cash handling can vary substantially from one campus to another,” says Perkins. “I think what is clear though, and why we have seen such widespread adoption of both approaches, is that they both offer substantial advances in convenience and cost savings compared to facilitating these transactions manually.”

Pages: 1 2 3

|| TAGS:
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

RECENT ARTICLES

Apex OrderHQ Array modular lockers
Jul 02, 25 /

Modular locker solution streamlines campus order pickup

Apex Order Pickup Solutions launched a new modular system of automated order pickup lockers that can be stacked or setup in custom configurations. The OrderHQ Array Series lockers work in any floor plan without expensive remodeling. In an interview with Food On Demand, Kent Savage, founder and executive chairman of Apex Order Pickup Solutions, compares […]
Amy Surprenant, HID Global
Jun 26, 25 / ,

Effective project management key to GWU mobile credential launch

In a recent interview, HID Global’s Amy Surprenant discusses the project management component of the mobile credential launch at George Washington University (GWU). With 26,000 faculty, staff, and students, the project marked a significant milestone for the institution and its partners, including HID, CBORD, and various on-campus departments and vendors. The deployment of HID Mobile […]
replace allegion reader module
Jun 26, 25 / ,

FIT and Denison both go mobile, but with very different starting points

Denison University and Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) rolled out mobile credentials to students and staff across their campuses. The projects were very different, however, because of the existing reader infrastructure on the two campuses. Each partnered with Allegion and Transact + CBORD to deliver the new digital IDs – stored in Apple Wallet or […]
CIDN logo reversed
The only publication dedicated to the use of campus cards, mobile credentials, identity and security technology in the education market. CampusIDNews – formerly CR80News – has served more than 6,500 subscribers for more than two decades.
Twitter

Attn: friends in the biometrics space. Nominations close Friday for the annual Women in Biometrics Awards. Take five minutes to recognize a colleague or even yourself. http://WomenInBiometrics.com

Feb. 1 webinar explores how mobile ordering enhanced campus life, increased sales at UVA and Central Washington @Grubhub @CBORD

Load More...
Contact
CampusIDNews is published by AVISIAN Publishing
315 E. Georgia St.
Tallahassee, FL 32301
www.AVISIAN.com[email protected]
Use our contact form to submit tips, corrections, or questions to our team.
©2025 CampusIDNews. All rights reserved.