“Reg” cards are out. AggieCards are in.

AggieCard is the new name for picture IDs on the Davis campus. They are required for all students as of fall quarter.

Faculty and staff can get them, too, though AggieCards are not required for employees or retirees.

Students will use their AggieCards as registration cards and for a variety of other purposes: as a library card, to make charges against student accounts and for meal plans. Undergraduates will show their AggieCards when they board Unitrans — because there is no fare for undergrads, who pay a Unitrans assessment with their quarterly fees.

Any employee can activate his or her campus ID for use as a library card, and employees can load Aggie Cash onto their cards — for electronic debits. Some units use their campus IDs for electronic access through security doors.

A new benefit with all AggieCards is the option of linking them to U.S. Bank. With a linked card, any student, employee or retiree could use his or her UC Davis ID as an ATM and-or debit card — and carry just one card instead of two or three.

To serve the campus community, U.S. Bank is opening branch next week in the east wing of the Memorial Union.

For all this (and to have its logo on the back of every AggieCard), U.S. Bank is paying UC Davis from $130,000 to $780,000 a year based on the number of bank accounts linked to the cards; the university and the bank estimate an average annual payment of $280,000 over the 10-year life of the agreement.

University administrators announced previously that the revenue would be shared among broad-based student programs and services that focus on campus relations and community development, or provide direct academic support. Some of the money will go to registered student organizations, student lounges, Campus Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics, among others.

Getting an AggieCard

Now, about getting those cards.

New undergraduates, including transfers, are getting their AggieCards during orientation. Continuing students and new graduate students are being asked to attend one of several recarding events.

Employee AggieCards are still being produced, with their unveiling dependent upon when the cards arrive — perhaps around the end of September.

Accounting and Financial Services, which is tasked with distributing the cards to employees, plans a “road show” of recarding events around campus. (Employee recarding event had been scheduled on four successive Wednesdays in August, but those events have been canceled.)

In addition, the AggieCard staff will make field trips to departments and units with special needs, such as employees who will use their AggieCards for electronic access through security doors, or employees who work swing or night shifts.

In getting AggieCards, employees need not have new pictures taken — so long as the university has your ID photo on file. However, the AggieCard staff will be more than happy to take a new photo.

To help introduce the new cards, the campus is establishing an AggieCard office, set to open Sept. 20 in the Memorial Union’s east wing. This will be the place to go for original cards (if you miss one of the recarding events) or replacement cards — instead of going to the registrar's office (for students) or Dutton Hall (for employees).

The AggieCard office is scheduled to be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The AggieCard office will be in part of what used to be the East Conference Room, across from the Corral store.

U.S. Bank branch set to open Aug. 9

The rest of the East Conference Room is now occupied by U.S. Bank — a full-service branch (everything, that is, except safe-deposit boxes).

Angelica Arrieta is the manager and has four employees, including one UC Davis student. Opening day is scheduled for Aug. 9; a grand opening is being planned for September.

“We are offering the convenience of letting you carry one card for dual purposes — as your campus ID and as a bank card,” Arrieta said, “with the added benefit of having an office right here on campus, if you have any questions.”

She said she and her staff are particularly interested in helping students get off on the right foot, financially, by keeping careful track of their electronic expenditures, for example.

Arrieta said the branch will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The telephone number is (530) 756-1259.

Under U.S. Bank’s agreement with UC Davis, the bank won the right to install six automated teller machines on campus. All are in and operating: as part of the wall of ATMs on the east side of the MU, inside the U.S. Bank branch, in the Games Area at the MU, inside the Silo, in the ARC lobby and inside the Scrubs cafe in the Health Sciences District.

The U.S. Bank ATMs on the east side of the MU and inside the bank branch are full-service; the others are cash dispensers.

The university’s agreement with U.S. Bank is not exclusive, which means, for example, that other banks and credit unions are allowed to keep their ATMs on campus.

On the Web

More information (including FAQ) about AggieCards for employees and retirees.

A separate website provides information on student cards.

U.S. Bank Workplace Banking