Fall 2017 will mark a major change to Notre Dame’s Irish1Card program card program, with all students set to be issued new, smart card IDs. The university will be transitioning from the magstripe-only credentials it is currently issuing to multi-technology credentials that incorporate both magstripe and smart card capabilities. The transition will be accompanied by other tweaks that will move the card program toward a more “campus-directed enterprise.”

It’s no secret that a majority of colleges and universities still rely on magnetic stripe credentials as their primary card technology. Unfortunately, magnetic stripe technology typically employs little or no security protections and the creation of fake student IDs, among other vulnerabilities, remains a concern. In HID Glboal’s “Smarter Identity and Access Control Solutions” whitepaper, the access control specialist reveals that the best option for the modern college campus is to upgrade to the most current technological innovations in order to achieve the best return on investment over time.

When students at Sarah Lawrence College replace a lost student ID card, they unknowingly get a little added security in the form of mutual authentication. Now, every new ID card issued by the Yonkers, New York-based college is now equipped with a contactless chip embedded within.

The question facing many campuses when it comes to the campus card is what technology to deploy. Historically the card technology conversation wasn’t often a major sticking point, with a vast majority of campuses deploying mag stripe credentials. But the emergence of contactless smart card technology added a new facet to the conversation.

The Georgia Tech BuzzCard will don a new look beginning this summer, with all incoming freshmen students receiving the newly redesigned credential while at orientation. The redesign also coincides with the introduction of smart, contactless technology to be added to the credential’s existing proximity technology.

Recarding a campus is never a small task. It’s a process that takes time, demands the attention of multiple campus stakeholders, and requires careful planning to ensure that the change of credential goes smoothly for both students and the institution. Thankfully, institutions don’t have to go it alone. That’s the major takeaway for the University of Cincinnati, who recently updated its campus credential with the help of ColorID.

Going to class is important, and in many ways, it’s the key to academic success. It comes as little surprise, then, that campuses are implementing attendance policies – and accompany those policies with an automated attendance systems – to open the possibility of improved academic performance and identify students in need of institutional support.