Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has signed a new voter identification law that requires voters to show an ID with a photo when voting. Student ID cards issued by universities can pass muster as long as they contain the student’s signature and have an expiration date that falls within two years of the card’s issuance.

That may be a problem for some schools. For instance, IDs issued by the University of Wisconsin currently don’t meet that criteria and would have to be updated before students could use them to vote.

The new law requires voters to present a driver’s license, state ID, passport, military ID, naturalization papers or tribal ID in order to vote.

Opponents are expected to challenge the constitutionality of the law in court. The law takes effect next year.

Read more here.

The University of Sunderland in northeast England has chosen IronKey as its ‘de facto’ portable security provider to help protect access to data such as research papers for its network of academics around the world.

In addition to protecting its global network from using unsecured networks and internet cafes, IronKey Enterprise will also give the university’s corporate governance and IT departments an extra level of security.

After a small-scale trial with a select number of users, the university rolled out the Ironkey USB device to 130 users around the world. Initial feedback has been positive and there have been no reported problems, said a university spokesperson, who called it “a plug and play solution.”

IronKey, with offices in Sunnyvale, Calif. and Uxbridge, UK, secures data and online access for individuals, enterprises, and governments. It can protect remote workers from the threats of data loss, compromise of passwords, and computers infected by malicious software. IronKey multi-function devices connect to a computer’s USB port.

Green Dot, a California prepaid financial services company, has been chosen as the cash transfer partner for Higher One, a technology and payment services company geared to higher education.

The Green Dot relationship will enable Higher One OneAccount customers to make cash transfers into their accounts with the Green Dot MoneyPak.

The Higher One OneAccount enables students to receive their residual financial aid faster, manage their money online and use a Debit MasterCard to make purchases. The Green Dot MoneyPak allows Green Dot cardholders and Green Dot partner customers to transfer cash to other accounts, including the Higher One OneAccount. MoneyPak is available at some 55,000 retail locations nationwide.

Green Dot MoneyPak is the cash transfer partner for more than 100 programs. It’s available at major retailers, including Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid and 7-Eleven.

Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks has teamed with MasterCard Worldwide to launch the SunTrust Campus Card that integrates a student ID card with a reloadable prepaid card backed by the credit card giant.

With this new campus card, universities and colleges will now be able to offer their students access to a reloadable prepaid account to pay for everyday expenses on and, in some instances, off campus. In the instance of off campus use, students will be able to use the SunTrust Campus Card to make purchases at millions of locations where MasterCard is accepted or withdraw funds without a fee from more than 2,900 SunTrust ATMs. The prepaid card is also intended to offer students greater security and control over their finances.

Students and parents can add funds to the cards via an online site. In addition, some colleges and universities can directly load financial aid disbursements onto the SunTrust Campus Card, replacing the need for paper-based payments.

The SunTrust Campus Card program is customizable, enabling participating schools to select the desired level of card functionality and the extent of financial access they wish to provide eligible students.

Later this year, SunTrust and MasterCard intend to launch a Web site for college students and faculty members that will feature budgeting tools and educational materials. Students will also have access to an online site that they can log into for account management, including setting up account alerts through email and SMS.

Not only has the University of Central Florida’s student ID card gained new functionality, it’s currently undergoing a facelift as well. UCF Card Services is revamping the original look with a new card design which features UCF’s creed along a black background.

“We wanted to bring it back to the school colors,” said Tammy Kidder, UCF card services manager. “We wanted it to be more identifiable for students.”

The cards will begin being distributed in May. Students are not required to switch to the new design since the original IDs will retain the same functions as the new card. However, if they wish to switch, it will cost them $15.

The card includes debit card capabilities where funds can be added online at one of the many school kiosks around campus. Previously, students had to add the money to their purse through the Card Services Web site then go to a kiosk to download the funds to their card.

Read more here.

Edison State College, Fort Myers, Fla. has added the CASHNet ePayment transaction portal from Higher One, a technology and payment services company focused on higher education. The service is set to commence this month and is intended to simplify and further secure payment processing which will benefit both students and staff.

Students and their family members will now have the ability to make Web-based payments via credit card, debit card and check for charges and fees. They will also be able to split payments between two or more credit cards, debit cards, check or any combination, set up recurring payments and make payments on behalf of students.

“PCI compliance was an additional benefit of partnering with Higher One’s CASHNet ePayment transaction portal,” said Guillermo Polanco, Edison’s assistant director of finance, “We look forward to a more streamlined process that is easier to manage and will promote savings of both time and money.”

Edison has been a Higher One client since implementing its OneDisburse Refund Management service in 2007.

West Virginia University in Morgantown and the FBI are collaborating in a biometrics data collection study that could help change the way biometric technology is used. For students, it means a quick $40 for a 45-minute study covering background information, fingerprints, pictures, archival photos, video and audio recordings.

“In 45 minutes, they are participating in a project that could have a huge impact on how identification technology is used in the future,” said a WVU assistant professor.

WVU is the academic liaison for the FBI’s biometric center of excellence. “We are doing this data collection to give them new data sets for next generation trait studies to improve the recognition capability of these types of identification sources,” the professor said.

Read more here.

The CBORD Group, a provider of food management and cashless card systems for health care facilities and colleges and universities, has released CBORD C-Store, a Web-based inventory management solution for retail operations.

By integrating point-of-sale and automated inventory data, the solution enables retail managers to manage real-time inventories and improve efficiencies.

“CBORD C-Store will improve our speed and accuracy by giving us a single point of data entry to update both Foodservice Suite and MICROS,” said Merelene Stanley, coordinator for dining services technology and performance at the University of Colorado in Boulder. “It will make it easier to add new products, monitor our actual inventory levels, and give our financial team fresh data for audits.”

The product will also automate formerly time-consuming and error-prone practices, “letting us spend our time on more mission-critical activities,” said Stanley.

CBORD C-Store integrates MICROS point-of-sale data with real-time item inventory levels from CBORD’s Foodservice Suite, putting a wide range of integrated information at a manager’s fingertips. With support for vendor product catalogs, price updates and electronic order transmission, the system makes it easy to stay on top of back- and front-of-house operations. Its scalable nature empowers managers to oversee the operations of a single store, large campus-wide deployments, and everything in between.

A technology fee implemented two-years ago at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has led to several advances, including more up-to-date computers, an undergraduate print quota which allots students 650 pages of printouts at no extra cost and laptop checkouts via Student Technology Centers.

The goals of the fee structure are to take advantage of the economies of scale that University Information Technology Services offers and to ensure comprehensive access to IT for students.

According to a recent report, “as the transition continues, students will find more hardware, software, and support available to them. Given the four-year hardware replacement cycle, students will use computers that are up-to-date and functional.”

Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis is an urban campus of Indiana University and Purdue University in Indianapolis.

Read more here.

Wisconsin’s proposed voter ID law, billed as potentially one of the toughest in the nation, would be less susceptible to legal challenges if university student IDs are allowed. That’s the opinion of a University of Wisconsin political scientist who testified before a legislative committee.

“You already have tens of thousands of these (student) IDs being produced by the state (at UW campuses). So why duplicate the state’s efforts in terms of having (students) go out and get another free ID at a cost to the state?” he said.

Voters would be required to present a valid ID, such as a Wisconsin driver license or a military ID card, to vote if the Senate Voter ID bill becomes law. Student IDs are not a valid form of voter identification under the Senate bill.

The bill’s proponents say the legislation would limit voter fraud while opponents contend that the bill would disenfranchise voters such as poor people and college students who are less likely to have a Wisconsin driver license or other type of photo ID. Read more here.