Spring Break
Aggies charge ahead
Students opt for debit cards instead of cash, but others say credit cards are for after college
By: Madiha Rizvi
Issue date: 9/24/08 Section: News
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At lunchtime at Poor Yorick's coffee house outside Sterling C. Evans Library on any given weekday, there is a line of people extending out the door. It is a routine occurrence, but no one realizes how quickly the line is moving at the cash register.
In the past decade, students at Texas A&M have made the transition from cash to plastic - debit, credit or Aggie bucks. Out of 10 students, nine said they used a debit card to spend money.
Students said the reason for using plastic is their limited amount of time. A college student's time is valuable as they rush to classes, work and find time to study. "I use a debit card. I don't like cash lying around. It is quicker than going through change," Eva Salazar, a junior university studies with leadership concentration major, said.
"It is embarrassing and annoying to spend cash. It is embarrassing because it takes longer and annoying because you have to take the change out and count it in front of everyone," she said. "Everyone has a card, it may be because of the quickness [of transactions]."
Wells Fargo has six locations on campus. Three locations accept deposits: a drive-up on Olsen Road, the Pavilion and the Memorial Student Center. The other three locations are in Sbisa Dining Hall, Koldus garage and the Commons.
"We try and be as student friendly as possible. There are many additional features that Wells Fargo offers online," Katherine Zemanek, a personal banker at Wells Fargo, said. "This includes free bill pay, text and mobile banking where you can text us to find what balance you have in the bank account, alerts which are warning messages if your balance goes under a certain balance."
This fall, Wells Fargo will team up with A&M for a debit block card. With the card, if the banking balance is approaching negative, any location will automatically decline the transaction. With this protection, students have no fear of overdraft fees.
Credit cards are a way some students spend money, but for others, college is not the time.
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