Getting more student organizations involved with using it. So with all the Greek life and there's so much opportunity there, you know they're trying to fundraise. So it will be a good way for them to, when they have events if they don't want to take cash, then they can use Cajun Cash, or even if it was for within the sorority or fraternity. ItÕs just kind of getting the word out and expanding to let all of them know that there might be a solution to an existing problem that they have. 

Welcome to Focus, a podcast dedicated to the business of Higher Education. I'm your host, Heather Richmond, and we will be exploring the challenges and opportunities facing today's higher learning institutions. Today, I caught up with Kari Foti, Director of Cajun Card Services at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. We chatted about all the ways they use the Cajun Card on campus, and the surrounding community. Hello Kari, thanks for joining me today.

Hi, it's really good to be here.

Well, I'm excited to talk to you about the Cajun Card at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. But first, can you tell us a little bit about you and your experience with the card office.

So I am fairly new to the card office. I started working here at the university four and a half years ago. And before that, I really didn't have any experience in higher education or card offices. Because my background was in project management. I worked for General Electric, but you know, a lot of that kind of has helped in its similar processes and just overall using some of my experience in that way to work in the office. But it's been very interesting and new experience. And I really enjoy working with it at the university and with the students to try and to provide that service. It's been very interesting.

I bet. I can see a lot of things transferring from project management to getting everything in line with the card office and all the different pieces and parts and people coming in.

Yeah, definitely. 

That's great. Well, can you also explain a little bit about the University of Louisiana at Lafayette?

So we are a public university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, which is in the southern part of the state. And we have 80 majors, 30 graduate programs, and roughly 19,000 students enrolled here and of that 2,500 are graduate students. And we did see, a little bit of a drop when the pandemic hit a couple years ago. But one of the things we noticed this fall of 2022 is it was our largest freshman class. And so we're back to pre-pandemic levels, which is a great thing to see. And it's full, campus is full. So that's great. And the other thing I'd like to note about our university, we just achieved this this year, was we have a Carnegie R1 designation now. So out of 3,900 universities, only about 3%, obtain R1. And so we're basically a key research university in the country. So we've met benchmarks in externally funded research, the number of doctoral degrees that are given each year, and the amount of research staff that we have employed here. So it's a big deal for us. And we're excited about it, about the school growing and the economic opportunities, new students coming because they want to be part of that research. So it's really exciting.

That is a big deal. And super exciting. Congratulations. Yeah, and obviously with all those students, and being back to normal, the card office is probably really hopping. So let's dive in on that. And I know you have a robust campus card, also known as the Cajun Card. And so we want to now, share some of that knowledge that you have. And so can you maybe give us a little bit insight on how the Cajun Card is being used across your campus currently?

Sure. So currently, a brand new student would come in and during orientation they'll get their picture taken and theyÕll get their brand new card. So as they're welcomed to campus, here's your student ID. And they'll use that for parking access or dorm access and when they use it for meals in the cafeteria or in the library, for parking permits. And at athletic events, going to get into the games for free, things like that. So it's essentially their pass and how they use it. And then like in the classroom, teachers will for exams, usually they'll need to present it to prove that they are who they are. So it's essentially the one card that they'll use all over campus for essentially everything.

Wow. So yeah, that's quite a bit it sounds like that. It's really their whole campus experience there. And so are you managing all those different programs with the card at your office.

Oh no, we're essentially kind of like the core. So like the hub, we connect with each of those other areas on campus. So we have relationships and integrations basically with say, parking. And so whatever software they have, or weÕll take a download from ours, and it'll dump into theirs. And the same with housing and the software that housing uses, so that the required access or entrances to the dorms are in there for the students. And we work with dining services and putting in all of the meals on the account. So each one of those we independently work with, but it all kind of connects to the center, which is us, so that each of those will essentially work. But it's through the same card. 

Yeah, I like that. I like that you really describe yourselves as that hub. Because really you are really that central place where all the other kind of ancillary services all, really kind of funnel up into you. 

Yeah, exactly. It really is.

Well, it's interesting. I heard you talk about access and the management there. And I know we talked before, I think that you have IT security that kind of leads access control, but it still funnels up to you. Can you talk a little bit about how that works?

Yeah, and it was relatively recent, after I came on board that that was still in, like 2018, where it was in its infancy that they were changing how access was done, it was about six months after I started they decided that, you know, let's centralize this. It's more secure. And it's all going through one office as opposed to, we previously put the access on in ours, but we would need to confirm with individuals, we would need to confirm with their supervisor or with a professor or just the head of a department etc. on does this person need access? And so there was kind of a little chaotic, in that there wasn't that much control with it. So IT said, let's pull back and let all that flow through us. We'll manage the access. And we'll put it on. And then what we'll see is in our system, we can pull it up and once the access is there we can we can see that it is there. 

Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Assuming obviously the other ones securing the space and making sure who has the right rights and access. So then does that department then also have access to like the back end of one card and manage it from there?

Yes, so certain things on the back end. And so when it comes to almost on the reverse of that was for removing access, we recently set up a process, they worked on that as the lead, but for when people leave or depart the school, that as far as going through all the steps to where access is being one of them to get taken off. So we don't want to, say someone retires or they leave, they'll come by and give us paperwork. But the actual access is now part of an automated process to be removed once their paperwork is done, and they're officially no longer here. It's like boom, boom, boom, and it all gets taken care of on the back end. 

Yeah, IÕd say that makes a lot of sense. And trying to manage that without having some automation would be really challenging.

Yes, it is.

I bet. Now what about, because I know that the processes are in place for your students, you know, your faculty and staff. But a lot of times there's special situations that have temporary access, do you want to talk a little bit about how they manage that for temporary access?

So temporary access was done the same as normal access. They email the IT department with their request including their supervisor or whoever the owner of the specific area they had access to. And that's been granted, the person whoÕs putting in the request will get an email, in return saying that their request has been completed. And then they would come in, if they need an actual card, they will come to our office, if they don't, then it's just it's done. And it's on the card that they already have. And there would be a period of time that's associated with that access, and then it's been removed after that date. Now for special situations, say like if it was temporary, after hours, and they needed it last minute, we don't really have anything that's monitored 24/7 right now, from an IT perspective. So if they needed access, and they would have to just go to either their supervisor or someone or like university police would then be able to give them if it was justified whatever the scenario might be, once they confirmed that it was okay and then probably would escort them to whatever and now and the other thing that temporary solution would be housing has already printed temporary cards for housing, they just say housing visitor and they keep them say at their front desk or with their RAÕs. So they can be given to a student that may lose their ID over the weekend. And they need one when offices are closed, they can use those temporary cards to access their dorm and then say Monday, they'll come and they'll get a replacement.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And also, I think there's some other situations of maybe temporary being just a short time period, I know that maybe during game days, it kind of you have some extra people on campus.

Right? Well, and we had something that's happened a couple of times where say, it may be a change of whoever was working the game that day from the bookstore, and they needed access to the loading dock so that when they're returning the truck that's got the gear that's sold outside the stadium, so they need access to the dock, but didn't have it because maybe they weren't supposed to be working that day, or vice versa. And it's temporary, because specifically with the loading dock, only certain people are allowed that. So that's been something where we might have to grant that on a Saturday. But again, it's monitored a little more, when we know there're events that are happening. 

Well, and again, that kind of goes full circle back to why it makes sense that IT and security is who's really managing it from the front end.

Well, now that maintaining the records, and maybe they were, by one person being able to do that, then you can streamline the process because you can control it, and then you develop your own process as far as record keeping and all of those things. And just to get even better with it, as opposed to having to manage multiple people doing it all different ways.

For sure. So I know the other big function that we talked about earlier, too, obviously with most campus cards is the dining side. And so can you maybe talk a little bit about managing dining through the Cajun Card and what's working well with them.

So with dining, with meal plans, they contact us. ThereÕs a manager that goes to our office every semester. And they'll have a list of the students with meal plans that need to be added. We have someone in our office that does that. And then if there's any changes within the first couple of weeks, typically and then we'll finalize that. So we'll add the meal plans for dining services. And then we're kind of like their tech support, if they have any issues with their POS. And we also send them reports every week for the transactions that are happening in the cafeteria so they can do their own internal reporting. We use Sodexo, who is our client on campus dining services. And they've expanded, last year they went and they added some other services so they could use it at the field for football game concessions. And then we've also leased an OTC to them because they contracted with a food truck that came onto campus and there wasn't really a resource for them to be able to take payments. So they then used the OTC to take Cajun Cash at the food truck. And most recently, we're working with TouchNet to integrate every day or byte as some people will refer to it for online ordering for students with Sodexo and the cafeteria.

Okay, that's great. Yeah, the food truck. I hadn't thought about that. But do you have to be able to get payment, don't you?

Well, and the OTC can be wireless. So it really does come in handy.

That is great. Wonderful. Well, I know a lot of times as I think about using the Cajun Cash in the declining balances. So talk a little bit about how you guys handle the declining balance services.

So the declining balance is on the card, everything's there financially for them on the same card. So when they go into one of the dining locations, and maybe they have both, they have their meals, they have declining balance, and then they also have Cajun Cash. So they take the card at the register and they run the transaction, the first thing would be meal, then it goes to declining balance. And if there is no declining balance, then you know, they'll say well I have that Cajun Cash. So it kind of is already programmed in there to do meals first priority second would be declining balance. And then if they have Cajun Cash, they do have to tell the person at the register that it's Cajun Cash and not the other two. So we work with them in that aspect and they can check their balances with us, even if we don't take payments for declining balance in our office, that's done online or with food services upstairs. But they can check their balance through our website where all of those financial accounts live, so declining balanced meals and Cajun Cash on the Cajun Card website. And then we've got some other vendors on campus that are not part of different food locations, and then the bookstore that takes Cajun Cash so that if they don't want to eat inside the cast, and they can go to other locations on campus that take Cajun Cash as well. So and then we just get a percentage of transaction for anything that's done Cajun Cash with those.

Oh, that's great. So it's probably really beneficial to get other departments and campus services, wanting to accept the Cajun Cash, right?

Yes, it can be helpful to them as well, because right now one of our departments that has a 3D print lab, they came to us wanting a way for students to get reimbursed for the cost of the materials that they were using in the lab. And because they don't really have a departmental budget thatÕs handling funds, we offered them a card reader to be able to get set up to take Cajun Cash. So now what they do is when students come in, and they need material to print a project, they have a system on their own by weight or by amount, but to calculate how much it costs, they put in a student's Cajun Card number, and then the Cajun Cash is done that way their department. So that was a solution for them that wasn't available before.

Well, I bet that probably makes a lot of sense too, nobody wants to handle cash, physical cash anymore. Right?

Right. And it's risky. And then you've opened yourself up to audits, and then the financial department, you've got all these requirements that you have to follow. So our library, they don't handle cash at all. And they're set up to take Cajun Cash for overdue funds, or different things like that. And they're already set up to check out books using the campus ID. So the same card is used for paying the library funds and that allows them to take those payments, but they don't have to handle any kind of cash.

Wow, I can see that being a huge benefit on that. So I bet that as people get word, which usually happens across the campus, maybe new teachers or departments, they want to set up to accept Cajun Cash, what do they do to be able to do that?

They will just contact us and say what it is that they're trying to do, because sometimes it's different. And so one may want to be able to check in. For example, recently, a teacher was asking about how to know who was using the lab, they just wanted it for more of a check in type thing. And so that was one and we can offer a solution for that with that within the software that allows for a check in feature. So and then another may want say something that's more financially related. So how do I do this? So we'll step through what it is that they need, and then I'll list off some solutions that we can offer them, they'll pick if one of them fits. And if it involves setting up any kind of equipment, like an OTC, we'll go over to get them set up. We were doing virtual terminals at one time, and we would go and set up just on the computer, get them ready so that they could do it and walk them through the process. And then if there's any billing associated with it, then each month we just do that interdepartmentally and we go from there.

Yeah, seems pretty simple for departments to do that.

Most of the time, it's just that they don't know. So I have found the more conversations with different people and making them aware, we've gotten more requests for something that could help them, that they don't have. They don't want to have to buy a software all on their own, you know, so we've had a couple more requests recently than we have in the past. So I'm hoping that word of mouth and some other exposure is getting out there so that we can help them.

Oh, I bet it is for sure. And so that kind of takes care of the departments on campus. But I know you talked earlier about being integrated with several campus vendors and some of the services. So can you talk a little bit about kind of beyond access and dining, what else you're servicing.

So with RecSports, that building is on campus, technically, but it's further away. But they have their own software that is used and so we've integrated with them, and they'll pull in pictures from our side and the relevant student information so they know who needs to have what. So when the student goes over there with their card then it will accept or decline based on whatever their current activity or their access level is for being an active student or not an active student. Or even with online students, some may or may not have access to the RecSports if they haven't paid the extra level. So there's different levels to that, who does have access and then visitors that need access. Dorms they use StarRez. So for housing, that's integrated with us. And then the dash out thing for event venues that are all at athletic events or just any other event that is associated with the university. Well, recently, we have a new one that we're talking about for the museum. They're working on getting students free admission to our art museum that's on campus. And they will be able to use an OTC and use the check in feature as well to allow them to get access just like any kind of other event.

Wow. Well, you know, it really does sound like the Cajun Card Office is the hub for some really great connected services. And you keep thinking of new ones all the time. So coming back to your team, how has it been managing the campus ID services over the past couple of years since there's been a lot of ebb and flow, let's say?

Yeah, the last couple of years was interesting in that it worked out we had a case of perfect timing. Right before we were told to go home, essentially, in March of 2020, we had been working on, for about six months, getting my photo integrated with the card. And so as a way for students to upload their pictures for their Cajun Cards. And it was just went live right before that. So it all happened at the same time, which became super convenient. And like I said, perfect timing when they were still doing classes, and even when we came back so that there was a way for students to upload their photo. And then some of them we were mailing out cards. And then when they returned to campus, but they weren't taking large groups or orientation had to go down to a very reduced number of attendance. That's where it really helped is that when we came back in person, but very reduced in crowds and the sizes that could gather, it was about 60-75% usage for my photo at that time, because they only allowed smaller groups. And then when it came to standing in a line, that's where it became an issue. So it avoided them having to come to our office at all. So it's more than paid for itself in just that, that we've had in the last couple of years.

Oh, I bet yeah. Like you said, the perfect timing, you'd like to take a little credit. That's awesome, well talking about thinking ahead, what opportunities do you see for the future? So kind of like, what's your magic wand vision?

In my ideal world, I would love for us to go with a mobile ID. And I've looked at it, I've talked with our sales contact about it multiple times, I like it. I mean, everything's kind of going that way anyway. I use my own phone, for things like that all the time, the digital wallet. And so I would love for students to be able to have the mobile ID on their phones as well. That's what I'd love to have. So at this point, it's just about assessing the cost and putting that project together and finding the budget for it so that we can because it would involve replacing like panel for access as well, that are matching that level of technology. It's definitely on the list of things that we're going to be working on. And then the other thing would be just getting more student organizations involved with using it. So with all the Greek life and there's so much opportunity there for them, they're trying to fundraise with their organizations, with their philanthropy, so it will be a good way for when they have events that they don't want to take cash, then they can use Cajun Cash. Or even if it was for within the sorority or fraternity, attendance at an event is required, because they have to monitor how many things that they go to. They could use the check in or the attendance type features and some of these things. So it's just kind of getting the word out and expanding to let all of them know that there might be a solution to an existing problem that they have. And to make things easier, essentially, is what IÕd like to do.

Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. And as you said, I think the check in functionalities have become more and more what people are asking for because we hear a lot about wanting to really understand the engagement. What is the student doing on campus? Or what is everybody doing? So you could help to monitor that data and understand where you need services or where you to staff better and differently. So as you do check in and you get that engagement that leads to capturing data. So that's kind of been a recurring theme we've been talking about here with some other folks on the podcast. So how do you see your office being able to help with getting engagement data across the campus?

So when I initially started the goal was for using my process improvement, project management type skills to kind of go through and look and see what is the student's journey from start to finish when they first register to, I'd say ideally, graduation? But even on a smaller scale, just registration through that semester. And at every step there's data. And so taking it and working with the different departments to kind of see what pieces are being gathered, what data is going in, what could be useful, what could maybe be improved? And then what can we use that for? Okay so where are they going? What are they doing on campus? What do they want? What are they spending their money on? What are they spending their time on? And you work with other organizations like SGA. And maybe if they're being vocal about what isnÕt available, and if it was, what would that look like? So then recently, using some of the data, and then kind of streamlining their journey, we recently worked on a project with the registrar's office. They started one on preferred names. And it just recently kicked off about a month ago. And so now in working with them, our office and IT, and then they've even recently pulled in orientation, and that process developed for students to have that preferred name, and how they go about changing it. How it's changed in Banner. And then what that looks like to populate on to the card in our office, with then the legal name being on the back, and things like that. So that's a recent one. But it's an example of taking data and how you can use it and have it work for the students and for their experience.

Absolutely. And then just going across all your systems and trying to get it a little bit more unified. Do you have any additional advice to other directors of card offices on how to maximize the services connected to their campus cards?

I've thought about this one since we first initially talked and I think that, one, making it convenient. Like in anything, you have to solve a problem. And so if you find gaps and holes where people have a problem and you can find a solution, that's one of the things where it's kind of what I look for, but also in that everything is actually integrated. So you can be connected services in a way or maybe we can all offer it on the surface. But how it's all connected isn't as integrated as it could be. And it ends up making it difficult to manage. So I would just say, working with all of them from a technical standpoint, so it's all fully integrated, and they work. And then it's maximized with each other in the most efficient way.

Yeah, 100% integration is always key. Well, Kari, thank you so much for giving us a glimpse into how ULL is working to maximize the Cajun Card. I think it's always so valuable for colleges, universities, to really learn from each other. It's been such a pleasure talking with you and I look forward to catching up with you in the future.

Thank you so much Heather, this has been fun. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Focus. Don't forget to subscribe so you can stay up to date on the business of higher education. For more information, check us out at TouchNet.com.