Some students living in the residence halls are receiving instant gratification for good study habits and high test grades as hall personnel reward students with study bucks or paper dollars.

“[The study bucks] give the students immediate support and recognition for academic achievements,” said Ryan Gildersleeve, hall director for Birch-Welch-Roberts. “Also, they serve as supplemental goals for the students.”

All of the ISU residence halls have a study buck program that is used as a reward system for students caught studying. However, it’s run a little differently in each hall, said Matt Taets, resident assistant of Richey House in Helser Hall.

The study buck programs involve resident assistants, hall directors and academic chairs who give out paper dollars when they see someone studying in a common area, which includes dens, computer labs or their room with the doors open.

In addition to rewarding those seen studying, students in several halls receive the bucks for high test or project grades, said Taets, junior in graphic design.

The students then enter the paper dollars into a raffle, contribute dollars to the floor’s competition between other houses or cash dollars in for prizes, depending on the specifics of the hall’s program.

Numerous dorms, including halls in the Union Drive Association, Maple Hall and Storms Hall, facilitate raffles, said the hall directors.

Prizes vary from laundry detergent to dry erase boards or gift certificates.

“There is a whole assortment of prizes,” said UDA President Rick Cordaro. “One of our biggest [prizes] is a $50 gift certificate from the University Book Store.”

Birch-Welch-Roberts has opted to participate in a “competition within their building,” Gildersleeve said. He said the total bucks earned on each floor are totaled twice a semester; the top houses receive a financial award to be used to benefit the entire floor.

“Ours is a community development program,” he said. “It really contributes to the house’s unity.”

Other halls allow students to cash the bucks in for prizes, including pop, candy or school supplies, Taets said. “In my floor [Richey] we usually give out $15 to each floor per week,” he said.

The funding for the programs also varies within halls.

“The UDA senate funds their program with $800,” Cordaro said. “This was passed unanimously and covers more or less everything.”

Ginger Olson, hall director for Storms Hall, said funding for Storm Hall’s program comes out of its account.

Maple Hall receives support from local businesses, said Academic Resource Coordinator Michael Fries.

Hall directors and resident assistants said most students are positive about the program.

“It takes awhile for things to get started because not a lot of the students know about the program,” said Fries, senior in architecture..

However, he said most students end up with a positive view of the program.

“But by the end of the year, they are pretty excited,” he said.