FlashCard: A student’s pass for prizes and food
August 21, 2014
With only a FlashCard, the student ID needed to attend most events on campus, students can earn points for prizes on campus and purchase food or go shopping downtown.
“You can get a FlashCard at any campus,” said Joseph Dunn, senior business manager for FLASHcard Operations. “On the main campus you get it in the FlashCard office. At the regional campuses, the student services offices all have the ability to create a FlashCard.”
The FlashCard is used for meal plan access, taking materials out of the library, bus services, FlashCash and Flashperks. Incoming students can visit the FlashCard office in room 104 of the Student Center, next to Huntington Bank and the information desk.
FlashCash accepted at these locations:
Restaurants: Arby’s, Bistro on Main, Bellaria Pizza and Italian Restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings, Burger King, China City, Chipotle, Dave’s Cosmic Subs, Domino’s Pizza, Dunkin’ Donuts, Eddy’s Deli & Restaurant, Eldorado’s Pizza Pie, Euro Gyro, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Fresco Mexican Grill and Salsa Bar, Guy’s Pizza, Hungry Howie’s Pizza, Insomnia Cookies, Jimmy Johns, Little Caesar’s Pizza, Mike’s Place, Mr. Hero, Old Carolina BBQ, On Tap Bar & Grill, The Pita Pit, Papa John’s Pizza, Panini’s Bar & Grill, Penn Station, Pizza Hut, Pufferbelly, Pulp Juice & Smoothie Bar, Ramella’s Pizza, Rockne’s Pub, Subway, Wendy
Shopping: Acme (Stow and Kent), Campus BP, Campus Book and Supply, Circle K, CVS Pharmacy, Discount Drug Mart, Empire, Famous Hair, Flynn’s Tire & Auto Service, Giant Eagle, Kent Sunoco West, Kent Rapid Wash, KSU Golf Course, Portage Cyclery, Robeks, Sheetz, Sae-A-Lot, Sunoco, Tan Spa, The Fairways at Twin Lakes, UniversiTees .
FlashCash, using the FlashCard as a debit card, is accepted at more than 80 locations near Kent State’s main campus. Flashperks is a loyalty rewards program for students where you swipe your FlashCard to earn points at certain events throughout the school year
Kristan Dolan, marketing coordinator for the Center for Student Involvement, said there are currently 11 prizes you can earn, including winter hats and apparel, Boogie Board writing tablets, mobile device chargers, Beats by Dre headphones and ultimate bean bag chairs.
“Let’s say you redeem a prize at the 2,500 level, our points keep on rolling and don’t go away once you claim that prize,” Dolan said. “For every event you attend, you receive one entry into the drawing at the end of the year.”
Dolan said a year free of tuition and free domino’s pizza for a year are two prizes offered at the end of each year. She said the program is also talking with Portage Cyclery to give away a bike.
“The way we assign points is if it is an event that is going to occur more than once a semester or pretty regularly, we usually only make those 100 points because they are so often throughout the semester,” she said. “In the event of a theatre production, we would make it worth more points because it only happens a few times a semester.”
Dolan said that the main point-getter for people with the highest amount of points is on the academic side. She said that students rack up a lot of points by attending supplemental instruction in the harder courses usually taken by freshmen and sophomores.
Students can earn 500 points by tagging Flashperks on Twitter or Facebook before December 31 after registering for FLASHperks, Dolan said.
Students can also swipe their FlashCard while attending these events to accumulate points.
Sara Schirripa, a recent graduate of the nursing program at Kent State, said she earned several free prizes with ease.
“I would go to the events anyways without the incentive of Flashperks,” Schirripa said. “It was almost like I was getting paid to go. I would get so many points and get an email saying I received a hat or something, it was nice.”
For more information about Flashperks, visit the Flashperks website at www.flashperks.kent.edu.
Josh Yager was a beat reporter for the Summer Kent Stater.
Contact him at [email protected].
Matt Merchant contributed to the reporting of this story.
