Use of Spartan Cash increases around campus

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When accounting sophomore Kate Good does laundry in her Shaw Hall residence, it doesn’t involve searching for spare change under the couch or fumbling around for coins in her pocket. Instead, Good pays to do her laundry with a swipe of her ID card, loaded with Spartan Cash.

“It’s really helpful and convenient,” said Good, who uses her Spartan Cash at MSU vending and laundry machines, as well as the food court at the International Center.

Good is one of the many students who find Spartan Cash a useful tool around campus, which is why in the past few years, the number of machines in and around East Lansing has been rapidly growing.

“It’s convenient, especially for students because they can use it at vending machines and pay for printing with it,” Spartan Cash manager John Henrikson said. “If you live in the residence hall, you can use it to do your laundry, and it’s also convenient to have that extra money if you happen to find yourself out and you want to pick up a meal or a cup of coffee.”

Spartan Cash machines are in more than 100 locations, most recently in the Starbucks at Wells Hall and in two Taco Bell locations — 601 E. Grand River Ave., and 1051 Trowbridge Road — in August 2011. Last year, Collegeville Textbook Company, 321 E. Grand River Ave., Student Book Store, 421 E. Grand River Ave., and the Spartan Bookstore at the International Center, also started using Spartan Cash.

Collegeville Textbook Company co-owner Tom Muth said the shop saw a fair amount of Spartan Cash used last year, and it increased once students realized the option was available.

“It has worked out very well for us,” Muth said. “Any way we can make it easier for students to get their books, we’re all about that, and Spartan Cash is another way to do it.”

Henrikson said Spartan Cash is more popular since its introduction in bookstores last year.

“When it first came out, it didn’t get publicized a whole lot,” Henrikson said. “But this fall we had a pretty good response.”

Not all Spartan Cash locations have been as successful, however. Lansing Urgent Care at 2289 W. Grand River Ave., in Okemos, has barely seen any transactions.

“We get a ton of students here,” Hillary Myers, director of business development and marketing at Lansing Urgent Care said. “But they’re not utilizing (Spartan Cash), perhaps mainly because it isn’t associated with anything on campus.”

Another barrier for Spartan Cash is that it is used mostly by on-campus freshman and sophomore students, Henrikson said.

Microbiology junior Stephanie DeDore said she doesn’t feel Spartan Cash is necessary for students who don’t live in the dorms.

“I used it my freshman year, but now I live off campus and just use credit cards instead,” she said.

Prenursing freshman Taylor Horton said she also doesn’t use Spartan Cash because she has an unlimited meal plan and wouldn’t use it at vending machines.

“I pay for everything on my credit card anyway,” Horton said. “It’s pretty much the same thing.”

Still, Henrikson said he wants to add more Spartan Cash machines and currently is trying to add one at American Crepes, 986 Trowbridge Road.

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