A study conducted by researchers at Michigan State University, along with vending and payment solutions provider USA Technologies, has found significant performance boosts in cashless-enabled vending machines as compared to units only accepting cash and coin. The report highlights the common practice of outfitting only high-volume machines with cashless technology, but the study’s findings suggest that low-performing vending machines can provide significant revenue growth once equipped with cashless hardware.

Mercer University is the latest campus issue Mobile Credentials from Transact, and the first to partner with access control provider Allegion on the initiative. Mercer students, faculty and staff will soon have the option to provision their Bear Card to their iPhone or Apple Watch and use those devices for the full range of on-campus transactions.

The recent death of a University of South Carolina student has reminded many to revisit the safety precautions around ride-sharing apps. Among those stressing important safety measures is the Marquette University Police Department, which recently issued a notice to its campus community reminding students to remain vigilant when using ride-sharing services.

The major topic of discussion across the campus card landscape at the minute is mobile credentials. But students are taking notice now, as well. A recent meeting of the Missouri Students Association senate passed a resolution during its recent senate session expressing full support for digitizing student IDs at Mizzou.

UC San Diego (UCSD) is accepting preferred names in its campus databases, with future plans to extend the service to printing names on student ID cards. This marks UCSD’s first foray into preferred names and will enable students to submit both a preferred name and pronoun that they wish to be referred to by the university, with those designations being reflected in most campus records systems.

In a recent addition to the company’s tech article series, ColorID’s David Stallsmith discusses the options at a university’s disposal should it decide to pursue open-source hardware and software solutions. Opting for open-source solutions can offer an alternative to the traditional practice of opting for card system vendor solutions and the comprehensive ecosystems that come with.

It’s not rare for a university to leverage a mobile application to help streamline campus parking. What is rare, however, is for a university to create it’s own app in house, and that’s exactly what the University of Massachusetts Lowell has done with its new Parking Spaces app. The app displays real-time parking availability at all three of the university’s parking garages, as well as the two largest lots on campus.