Iowa State is giving students increased services with a new multi-functional identification card.

The 1995 freshman class is the first class to be issued the new ID card, said Joan Thompson, university treasurer and chairwoman of the Debit Card Committee.

These new ID cards will have more uses than the old cards most students are presently using, Thompson said.

The cards will be able to function as debit cards and will work a lot like an ATM card, said Dan Mangan, Government of the Student Body president and Debit Card Committee member.

Each student will have an account in which he or she can deposit funds, Mangan said, but the cards will not function as credit cards. If there is not any money in a student’s account, none can be withdrawn.

Vending machines will be one of the first places on-campus students can use their debit cards and some off-campus business will have the technology to allow students to use their cards, Mangan said.

“You’ll never have to carry a dime on campus,” he added.

The card is also slated to help in the election process on campus as well. Mangan said last spring’s troubled GSB elections demonstrated the need for an alternative to balloting.

Further in the future, the card is expected to have many additional uses, such as replacing keys on campus, Mangan said. Thompson said many people have been working for about three years to put the new ID card plan into effect. A completely new card had to be designed, since the old ones are too thin. The new cards now meet standards that allow them to work in ATM machines, Thompson explained.

The idea for a debit card at ISU came from observing other universities. Thompson said it was ISU’s desire to have a cashless system, and officials wanted to provide ISU students with increased services.

But Thompson said committee members do not yet know the cost of implementing the plan. The whole campus will be recarded by January.