This fall semester welcomed a major change to the way Coastal Carolina University students interact with campus faculties: mobile CINO cards.
The CINO card was introduced in 2002 and has undergone many changes since. Previously, Coastal had provided physical CINO cards for students. With these cards, students gain access to meal swipes, dorms and other faculties on campus.
On the physical CINO card, students’ photo, name, ID number and multiple helpline numbers, including emergency services, are visible. The mobile version is available for both Apple and Android wallets and includes the original information found on physical cards. Additionally, the mobile CINO card shows available CINO dollars, meal swipes and a direct link to the Get Mobile app, where students can see the full features of their card.
Grace McCoy, the director of auxiliary finance and lean officer, explains the reasoning for going mobile was not influenced by the cons of the physical card, but rather the pros of going virtual.
“I think we’re always looking for improvement, and not so much looking for fixing problems as we are always trying to move forward and be better. So, there might not always be something inherently wrong with our process and with the program that we offer, but it can be better, and this is one of the options,” McCoy said.
Over the summer, CCU launched a test run for the mobile CINO card.
“We did quite a big pilot in the summer to work through the bugs, and we put a lot of effort into our communication planning and to do videos as well as instructions to make that transition for students coming in as easy as possible,” McCoy said.
Jeremy Monday, senior director of campus environments, explained how virtual cards can be effective because students are less likely to leave their dorms without their devices.
“Now, we might forget our wallet at the house, but we rarely would forget our phones at the house, right? Or we’re turning right back around,” Monday said.
Agreeing with Monday, freshman marketing major Sophia Quackenbush said she enjoys the convenience of the digital CINO card.
“I like it a lot because me personally, I probably would have lost a physical card by now, so it’s nice to just have it on my phone,” Quackenbush said.
Impacts on sustainability and the environment were another aspect of the change.
“When you think about the card we had prior to this, it’s got to be made. So, we’re using fossil fuels to make it packaged, which causes things to grow in landfills. With this mobile card, we have none of that,” Monday said.
McCoy explains that physical CINO cards will still be available in specific situations, but physical cards used by students previously were deactivated on Sept. 2.
“We will still for students who qualify — either they’re not 18 or their phone doesn’t offer the NFC [Near Field Communication] and the requirements — will still have card services and accessibility in those cases,” McCoy said.
Some students are unhappy with this mobile transition, concerned about losing access to their CINO card if their phone battery dies. While a universal solution is not known at this time, there are potential solutions in this situation.
For iPhone users, by downloading the mobile CINO card to an Apple wallet, express mode is automatically activated. For certain iPhone models, express mode allows the card to be used for up to five hours after the phone battery dies. This feature can be turned off manually in the CINO card settings of the Apple wallet.
