Illinibucks

A system involving Illinibucks would be unique for our campus.  A form of payment that lets one jump the line would be sought after by many students.  In a fast paced setting such as college, students would take advantage of being able to get out of waiting as much as possible.  There are a variety of ways the University could utilize an Illinibuck system and I will evaluate some of them below.  I will look at the concept of Illinibucks from solely a university good and also from a campus town good.

One way the University of Illinois could utilize an Illinibuck system is for sporting games and events.  If every year students are given a set amount of Illinibucks that come with their tuition, that can be used to cut the line at sporting events, attendance at games might increase.  For the university, this would be a cheap addition to the tuition package, even if only one or two Illinibucks are in the package.  If students want additional Illinibucks, they can buy them as well.  This would be a perk reserved only for Illinois students, not the general public.  Because the games are already provided by the university, additional Illinibucks would not cost much, maybe three to five dollars each.  The price would need to be low because it is specifically for students, and students do not have a large amount of expendable income.  The downside of having a price that is too high is that it might deter students from attending games.  If the price is high, students might even try to sell their Illinibucks to one another, creating a sort of black market for Illinibucks.  As mentioned before, this might encourage students to attend more sporting events.  If students have a quick access pass, they might be more interested in checking out events outside of the popular football and basketball.  Even with these two big sports, having been on campus for four years, I know attendance is low, and an Illinibuck might get more people involved.

Another idea for Illinibucks would be in the campus town community.  These Illinibucks would be used to cut the line on the restaurants in the campus town area, ranging from Lincoln through Green streets.  These would allow holders to cut the lines at any participating food restaurant and get their food first.  For this form of Illinibuck, Anyone can purchase them, student or even the general public.  Because they are open and available to all in the Champaign-Urbana area, the Illinibuck would have to be more expensive than the one previously discussed.  This Illinibuck would need to be around five to seven dollars.  Any more expensive and not many people would buy them.  Five to seven dollars can get you a meal at some places on Green Street, so if the price goes up much more than that, people might rather save their money and just wait in line.  If the price was too low, too many people, both students and Champaign residents, would want to purchase the Illinibucks.  This would become a problem in that at any given restaurant, there could be multiple people trying to use Illinibucks, which could create confusion as to who gets to go first.  The Illinibucks would probably be utilized mostly at rush hour times, like lunch and dinner.  Also, there would be an increase of usage at late night hours, around 1-2AM when those returning from late study sessions or a night out go for food.  However, there could be a problem with this system at these later hours.  I could see confrontations occurring when someone is trying to cut the line and alcohol is involved.  Due to this, the Illinibuck system might set a time period for when the buck is valid, say, between the hours of 7AM and 10PM.