Students will soon be able to use credit cards in all food venues at St. Thomas for the first time, but the start date could be the end of March, beginning of April or even this summer.

Bruce Van den Berghe, associate vice president of auxiliary services, said that the original prediction for the credit card implementation was at the end of March, but he now believes that may be too optimistic.

“(The university) is still working through some issues with the IRT department. The end of March doesn’t look as viable, it might be some time in April,” he said.

University Student Government Vice President Michael Orth said that the implementation is lagging behind because the university is waiting to get a refund policy approved by the credit card companies.

“Both Dining Services and USG can’t wait to see it happen, but it comes back to these credit card companies. The latest it could happen is summer,” Orth said.

Van den Berghe also said that some of the delay is due to federal banking regulations, the university’s identification of a vendor and finding the lowest bank and transaction fees.

“There are a lot of behind-the-scenes accounting complications, and St. Thomas screened a number of potential vendors,” Van den Berghe said.

Heidi Lillie, a food service worker, said that the implementation will be beneficial because it will allow The View to admit more people.

“People have been asking if that’s one of the new features (of the student center),” Lillie said. “I say ‘no.’ It’s just the normal eXpress, flex and cash.”

Orth said that the university is aware that students and faculty want the credit card option.

“The university is working as hard as they can to get this in place with the new student center,” Orth said.

Junior Jeremer Kingler, a Scooter’s employee, said the implementation cannot come soon enough.

“I’ll be happy when I can put money on my credit card so that when I go home in the summer, I don’t have to worry about left over eXpress money,” he said.

Senior Taylor Melvin agreed.

“I think they need to implement it sooner. Because when you think of us seniors who don’t have meal plans and who live off-campus, we want to be able to just go in and pay with our cards,” Melvin said.

Even though credit cards will make things more convenient, Orth said it still makes more sense if students use their eXpress money.

“When students use eXpress, they get that 5 percent back because they don’t have to pay for the processing fees through the credit card companies,” Orth said.

Orth added that the change will likely be more beneficial for St. Thomas staff and faculty.

The Minneapolis campus is going to be the first to implement credit cards.

“What we have gathered from Minneapolis is that cards will give access to more grad students,” Todd Empanger, director of dining services, said. “As for (the St. Paul campus), I am not sure how eXpress will be affected since students receive a discount. It will depend if they feel it is convenient.”

The university hopes that allowing students to use credit cards will increase overall sales.

“The reason they didn’t have it in past years was that it costs money,” Orth said. “I think it costs extra for the university to have contracts with these credit card companies.”

Further Plans

Van den Berghe said that similar to other companies who accept credit cards, St. Thomas will have regulations for its machines.

For example, if a purchase total is below $25 or a certain dollar amount, students may not have to sign a receipt.

“It’ll make it much faster if you’re standing in line waiting to check out with your food,” Orth said. “We all know nothing is worse than standing in line waiting for your food at lunchtime.”

Kelsey Broadwell can be reached at broa3324@stthomas.edu.