A new initiative at Texas Tech is letting students trade in their student ID cards in exchange for portable phone chargers. The program is intended to help students keep their devices charged during home football games when devices often run out of juice with limited opportunity to recharge.

Every year, tens of thousands of people flock to Oshkosh, Wisc. for AirVenture, an international air show. The event floods hotels and other local accommodations, so the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh recognized an opportunity.

An initiative at the University of Iowa is enabling students remaining on campus during the summer months to lease dorm rooms on a short-term basis. The lease-gap program is the result of an agreement between student government and Iowa’s University Housing & Dining.

Students at virtually every college campus need to access public transit to navigate the campus, its surrounding community or simply get to class on time. Knowing this, it seems logical that the campus ID that a student already carries also double as a transit ticket. At least that was the prevailing message in 2015 at the time of our “Getting a lift with the student ID” piece.

A new initiative at the University of Kentucky is enabling faculty and staff to walk a mile in students’ shoes. The university’s “A day in the Life” program is enabling staff to experience a campus tour as if it were their first day on campus as a student.

With the swipe of a student ID card, Grand Rapids Community College is offering free laptop rentals to students. The service is being offered via vending machine, giving students an alternative to accessing the technology needed to support their academic work.

Stony Brook University has joined the growing roster of campuses to deploy reusable takeout containers in campus dining halls. As with other deployments, the initiative at Stony Brook is expected to cut both food and disposable container waste.

Princeton University has made it easier for students to share a meal with each other thanks to a new electronic meal exchange program that encourages more interaction between members of the university’s various eating clubs.

New Hampshire’s Plymouth State University has taken a proactive step toward opening a new revenue stream on campus. The university’s newest residence hall — a 96,000 square foot, seven-story facility — will convert to a 188-room hotel during the summer months.

We often overlook just how easy it can be to leverage campus card technology to improve the student experience. The women’s center at Tufts University has experienced just this by installing a card reader at its facility for the first time in a move that will expand availability to students.