Beginning this summer, Iowa State began to implement a new student cash account program called CyCash, which I’m sure all students are aware of.

I believe the objective of the new system was to combine the previously separate Debitek and Dining Dollars programs, as well as to provide some protection to students who lose their ISUCards while money was still on them.

While this intention was good, its implementation has been horrible.

While CyCash has been imposed on students for months now, it has not been available for use at all the places it needs to be. It has been rarity for me to discover a vending machine on campus that has a CyCash reader, and even then, it is even rarer then that it was connected to the CyCash network.

Furthermore, students are forced to use CyCash to run laundry services in the residence halls.

I have counted four occasions this semester that the laundry in Helser Hall has been unavailable because the CyCash reader had crashed, twice for entire weekends which are the peak usage time for these services.

The worst part of this is that when this reader doesn’t work, NONE of the machines work.

I have heard several stories of students whose clothes were in the wash cycle when the system broke and were left with nothing but hair dryers to dry their clothes with.

Something needs to be done to improve and even complete this system.

As it stands, I would personally rather carry around a roll of quarters than worry that this handy card won’t work.

Chris Dasch

Sophomore

Computer Engineering