The age-old ACU collegiate card can now be downloaded from iTunes as an application for students to access at any time on their mobile devices. The app was officially available to download last week. Students Association made the app a free, simple and accessible app that all students could enjoy.
Dylan Benac, senior political science major from Boerne and president of Students’ Association, said the U Pocket and collegiate card creators offered to put together an app for the ACU students that would act as a multi-purpose collegiate card. This project has been in the works since the spring.
“They approached us saying ‘hey, we have this opportunity do you think you would be interested?’ And we said yes,” said Benac. “It comes out of our budget for SA and it’s actually more than if we were just to buy collegiate cards, but we feel like this does so much more than just a card we hand out to people, and allows us to continue to have access to them or be able to pass on information to them beyond just them coming to our office once and us handing them a card. They still can do that, but now we are able to connect with them in a new way.”
Students who have smart phones, including android phones, are able to access this app. Students who do not have smart phones still have the option to pick up a collegiate card in the SA office below the campus center.
The collegiate card app by U Pocket also provides unexpected and convenient features for students.
The new collegiate card app shows students where they can get discounts at local food and retail stores with a valid student ID. It also allows students to search among local businesses to find anything from car repair shops to good places to eat BBQ. Benac said users will discover the app provides updates, events, a campus map, the ability to share on social media and it also connects students to the latest news from The Optimist.
“There really isn’t an app for ACU that does everything non-school related,” said Benac. “We have the mobile page for myACU, and that’s good but it doesn’t meet all the needs of a student or the social aspect of a student, so that’s what we are hoping for with this.”
Benac said the students he talked to are excited about this new app and eager to use it.
Robert Hull, senior piano performance major from Ripon, Calif., will be managing the events section of the U Pocket collegiate card.
“I think the majority of it is going to be student organization events, sporting events, things that we are trying to encourage students to attend,” said Hull.
Hull had the opportunity to talk to Jim Litton, the creator behind the app for ACU, who discussed potentially introducing the application during freshmen orientation each year for the incoming students.
“He talked a little about maybe working it into freshmen orientation at the beginning of the year because it has other things on there, too, not just discounts,” said Hull. “It has a map of campus which, when I was a freshman, I came in and I didn’t know where anything was. I was constantly trying to find buildings. So things like that will help out a lot.”
In the past, students had to go to a website to see where the collegiate card could be used around Abilene, but now it is all on one simple app.
“It should be more convenient,” said Hull. “I knew about the Sonic discount but I didn’t know the rest of the places you could use a collegiate card at.”
Search the word “upocket” on iTunes to download the free app today.
