One Cards

Pace+Universitys+One+Card.+Photo+taken+by+Josiah+Darnell

Pace University’s One Card. Photo taken by Josiah Darnell

Josiah Darnell, Opinion Editor

The Pace One Card is the lifeline of Pace University students, so it is imperative that students keep it with them at all times. Being that it is so important, the price a student has to pay, should they lose theirs, is the same as pulling out a twenty-dollar bill from an ATM.

Almost everything that a student does on campus involves the One Card. The One Card contains a student’s meal plan money, their flex dollars, print money, participation points, access to dorm buildings and to the Goldstein Fitness Center.

It is an extremely important and vital tool for students and if it ends up lost, stolen, or misplaced, the fee to get it replaced is $20. For most students the, price is controversial and therefore should be open for debate. Some feel that $20 is too steep a price to ask, while others feel that it’s a reasonable price.

I do believe that $20 is a bit of a stretch, especially since back in high school in Queens, I only had to pay five dollars – but I understand why the price is so high. The One Card is extremely valuable and carries all the essentials for Pace students. It would be a difficult day on campus if a student didn’t have their One Card.

The value that the card has is the number one reason why the price is the way it is, however, I do believe that the price can be adjusted. In college, $20 can pay for a lot more things than a card; food and gas are prime examples – those are necessities that students don’t think twice about paying for.

They understand that the One Card is important, it’s just a fact that the $20 used to get the One Cards could have been used somewhere else. Budgets are strict for college students, and having to pay a pretty high price for something like a One Card is a thing students don’t want to struggle with.

The worst type of situations occur when students misplace their one card, have it deactivated, and obtain a new one – just to find the card they lost. Students in that situation aren’t mad that they found the old card, but that they already paid for a new one.

Money is a big concern in college, and students don’t want to stress about something that they need to be a student on campus.