Declined!

I have always wondered why it is that the student center at both the Lincoln Park campus and downtown campus do not except credit cards. They will only accept cash of demon express/meal plan for the purchase of any food items. While eating at the downtown campus I asked one of the cashiers and she told me that they do not accept credit cards because they have the demon express/meal plan program through the University and it would be to much when it comes to fees to except credit cards as well. I also called both student center's main offices just to see if I could get a better answer and no one at either seemed to know the reason. I looked at the meal plan section of the website to see if there was any information on there, but of course there was not. Even though i could not find what I was looking for, I did find a facts and questions page that had some interesting information. One question was whether or not students had to have a meal plan. The answer they gave was yes, students living in campus housing must have at least the lite plan and all first year students must purchase the DePaul plan. I know from experience that if all the money on your card is not spent by the end of the year, the student is not reimbursed, which means the school get the money. So by not allowing credit cards and making it mandatory that students living on campus purchase a meal plan they might possibly make a profit off what many students do not spend on their cards at the end of the year. Also by not accepting credit cards, it keeps them from having to deal with credit card companies and all the problem that have to go with it. I feel that it may just be a lot easier for the students to transfer money and for easier for the university to keep track of the money that is coming in.

I am still going to try and find out if I can get a better answer for why they do not accept credit cards, but if anyone know for sure then just post a comment.