I have a suggestion for the future if anyone who has the power to make the change is reading this. I know that as someone who rarely ever has cash on him, I would really appreciate it if stores on campus would accept debit cards as a method of payment. No stores do, not Freshens, not Snygg Snacks, not the store in Lanigan, not the store in Rich, not the store in Penfield, etc. The only stores on campus that do are the stores in Hewitt such as Artville, and even then, I have been told that the cost needs to be at least $5 in order for you to use a debit card. It is very inconvenient, because as I said, I don’t like having cash on me, and even if I did, the ATMs don’t always work, anyway. Just a few days ago, one of them took $50 out of my boyfriend’s bank account even though it didn’t give him the $50, so now, he has to submit a request for an investigation in hopes to get his $50 back.

Every now and then, I like picking up a small snack or a beverage from a store on campus to enjoy before or during class, or maybe at the library while I get some work done, and I can pretty much only do that for as long as I have money on my Plus-Plan, which goes quickly. When I was a freshman here two years ago, students only received $50 per semester. Now, they receive $70, which is a lot better, but it still doesn’t last all that long, especially since Freshens is so expensive. I just wish that this could be changed, because I can recall back to when I first discovered that stores on campus only accepted cash and Plus-Plan as methods of payment; I was very, very surprised.

After all, this is 2011, and this should pretty much be a method of payment everywhere, especially on a college campus. It is especially ridiculous when the idea of the Oswego Debit Card is put into consideration. Yes, they can be used off campus and at Hewitt, but the majority of stores on campus do not accept them because obviously, they are debit cards, so is there really any practical benefit to issuing them? Don’t get me wrong; if debit cards were allowed as a method of payment, then I’d be more encouraged to spend money, since it would be more accessible to me, but I trust that I could teach myself to be reasonable; I need to save money more than ever right now, and I’m well aware of that. I would just appreciate the chance to not be so limited.