Opinion Board | Three-ring circus

When universities make things unnecessarily complicated, students pay the price.

And complication is exactly what defines Penn's system for student payment.

We can use Dining Dollars to eat at some on-campus dining locations, but not at others. Meanwhile, there's Penn Cash, which can pay for laundry machines, printers, on-campus dining and textbooks. And finally, there's bursar, which essentially serves as a line of credit for specific on-campus purchases.

It's almost like Penn has three separate currencies, each with their own annoying caveats. Dining Dollars, for example, expire at the end of the year. And if you use bursar at some locations like the Williams Hall Cafe, be prepared to pay an extra fee.

It's gotten complicated enough. University officials need to take steps to consolidate the three currencies into a single form of payment.

The first step is to pressure Aramark to eliminate Dining Dollars, which don't seem to have any purpose except to line the pockets of the corporate behemoth.

Combining Dining Dollars with Penn Cash would allow students to use one single currency for all of Penn's services. When the cash on a PennCard hits zero, students should also be able to take advantage of a line of credit, incorporating the useful function of bursar.

No more having to manage three separate accounts for three different methods of payment. And no more worrying about whether the lady at the register will accept Dining Dollars.

Of course, Aramark and other on-campus businesses may prefer to collect cash from students in their own ways. Many of the organizations even profit from the inefficiencies caused by the confusing system.

But because the current system does nothing for the student body, the University needs to exercise its economic muscle to persuade these businesses to adopt one payment method.

Convenience for students needs to remain the number-one priority. Simple as that.

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