Roundup Editorial Board
As the semester kick-starts, and students settle in to their classes, the Student Store gets hit with heavy traffic, as students look to purchase materials necessary to fulfill their semester requirements and succeed in classes.
With that said, there is very little time to be wasted on unnecessary long lines like, ATMs.
At Pierce, we have one ATM, and a slow one at that.
There are more than 20,000 students who attend Pierce. Not only does having one ATM create a lengthy, vexatious line, it also causes a crowded Student Store.
Having at least two ATMs would keep the cost of maintenance down for the machine, an expense the college can do without especially in this economy. Another advantage is the ATMs wouldn’t run out of money as quickly on any given day.
For students on financial aid another ATM is even more beneficial.
According to a school official, the ATM is often needs to be refilled with cash as a result of students withdrawing money in large sums.
Who can blame them?
Financial aid students, for example, who get their disbursements via the myLACCDcard are really limited to the number of ATMs they can withdraw money from, without being charged $3 to $5 fees.
Those fees can add up and take away from the student’s grant, which essentially should be geared toward school purchases and not to give as charity to other banks.
The myLACCDcard works under HigherOne, an online bank.
In the San Fernando Valley there are a total of two HigherOne ATMs. One at the campus bookstore and the other in the Mission College Campus Center.
At Pierce’s sister school, Los Angeles City College (LACC) they have two HigherOne ATMs. One in their bookstore and the other in the Administration Building.
LACC has approximately 18,000 students according to the LACCD’s “2-year Headcount comparison.” There is about 4,000 less than Pierce, yet they have two HigherOne ATMs.
Must be nice, and convenient.
The Roundup suggests another location as an ideal site to place a brand-new, preferably faster ATM is the Student Services Building (SSB).
We feel the SSB would be beneficial to students because it is the headquarters for students’ needs. The SSB contains the Student Health Center, Admissions and it is in close proximity to the Student Store and Freudian Sip.
Another key factor to take into serious consideration is that some offices in the SSB, mainly Admissions do not accept credit or debit.
It’s really inconvenient to be waiting in the dreadful line at Admissions, only to reach the front of the line and find out they take “Cash or Check Only,” then have to walk back to the ATM line only have to rejoin the Admission’s line, again.
Sounds like a long, tedious process.
Don’t you want to make school as convenient as possible for students and send them to class jolly, rather than exhausted and annoyed?
(Maria Salvador / Roundup)
