Lion Cash loses convenience when mandatory

The Lion Card can be the most useful thing any student attending this university can have. Two examples of the many useful conveniences it can provide are: serving as a student ID and a key to get through dorm security. The use of it as a credit card exclusively used on the campus only, however, anything but convenient.

At this point in the semester, I'm pretty sure everybody knows what Lion Cash is. For those who are unaware, Lion Cash is money that can be deposited onto your Lion Card as credit to be used in the purchase or service request of items on campus.

The idea sounds solid in theory, allowing any parents or benefactors of students without credit cards to transfer money, which will allow them to get through school with whatever needs they may be forced to purchase. Despite meaning well, moments have arisen that have elevated Lion Cash to the status of a need rather than an optional benefit.

Lion Cash may work when no other means of receiving outside funds exists, but when the system becomes mandatory it also becomes an inconvenience. Is there really a reason why the library photocopiers can only be paid using Lion Cash? Why can't we just use cash or make change to print copies in the printing labs?

If I have to photocopy something quickly but have no money on my Lion Card and nothing but a $5 bill in my wallet, why can't I simply break down that $5 bill and insert what I need rather than let over $4 of good money that can be spent on necessities elsewhere sit on my card waiting to rarely, if ever, be used again? I simply see no logical reason such a system has to come into play, especially for those who may have to rely on library printers and photocopiers regularly.

When Lion Cash becomes a mandatory means of paying for a service, all of the purpose that it once had as an optional program is instantly negated.

I am sure that Lion Cash has helped a good amount of people in the past, and there are a fair number of situations in which it could prove useful. The inability of choice, needlessness of going through the process and sacrificing money that could be of use later produces an annoyance that easily counters all of the good the system can do.