Declining balance programs have been a mainstay of college dining programs for decades. Dedicated campus cards enable students to pay for meals and other expenses quickly, with the funds coming directly from the balance rather than an external bank account. As more college students arrive at school with other payment options, however, the future of declining balance programs has been called into question.
In response, the RamCard Office at Colorado State University worked with the National Association of Campus Card Users (NACCU) in 2024 to study how evolving payment and ordering options are impacting declining balance programs. The survey responses revealed a few critical insights that could shape the future of college dining—particularly when it comes to mobile functionality.
State of declining balance programs
Harvard University made waves in June 2024 when it announced that it was phasing out Crimson Cash, the campus’ declining balance program. School officials cited a drop in utilization due to changing buying habits.
Harvard isn’t alone. In the NACCU study, 50% of universities reported that their programs are seeing reduced utilization. A variety of factors, including expanded availability of outside payment options and fewer incentives for students, seem to be causing the drop in usage. The effects of the pandemic are still reverberating through many schools; 39% of schools reported that their programs are still trying to make up ground. Just 11% reported growth.
Costs are another important issue for colleges. Of the NACCU survey respondents that track declining balance program costs, 43% report that the revenue isn’t enough to break even—much less make a profit.
Going mobile to improve declining balance programs
One of the biggest findings from the NACCU survey is the positive impact of mobile features on declining balance programs. If your university is looking for ways to improve campus card offerings and utilization, going mobile could be the solution.
Mobile credentials
Many of the schools in the NACCU survey have been slow to adopt mobile credentials and digital wallets. About 78% don’t have a mobile credential; in other words, they don’t allow students to pay with their phones and smartwatches. What’s more, only 50% of programs support digital wallets such as Google Pay and Apple Pay.
Upgrading to mobile payments is one way to increase usage of declining balance programs. College students are accustomed to the ease of tap-to-pay options; TouchNet found that 93% of students used these technologies at least once in 2023.
Campuses that leverage Grubhub’s ordering kiosks are automatically capable of accepting all types of mobile credentials. By embracing these technologies, your dining program has the potential to capture more business from convenience-minded students.
Mobile ordering
Research shows that the average young adult orders with a food delivery app 1.8 times per week. Regular mobile ordering is particularly high among full-time college students.
Declining balance programs can harness this behavior by adding a mobile ordering component. The results speak for themselves—in the NACCU study, 57% of the schools with online ordering have seen a rise in sales. Online ordering is also a common factor among the programs that are growing or rebounding.
Why is mobile ordering so important? It plays into students’ desire for speed, convenience, and flexibility. It also adapts to the demands of their current situation, making it easier to get food while studying for an exam, taking a break between classes, or relaxing in the residence hall. When students can pay for food with dining dollars, it makes the prospect even more appealing.
Integrating Grubhub mobile ordering with your campus dining program
If your university is ready to go mobile, Grubhub Campus can help. Our innovative mobile ordering platform can enable mobile ordering for your campus without the need to invest in building and maintaining a proprietary app.
Once your on-campus restaurants and convenience stores are connected, students can use the Grubhub app to order food and pay with their dining dollars. And if you leverage Grubhub’s technology, orders can flow right into your POS and kitchen display systems, reducing wait times and streamlining kitchen workflows. You can even configure the system to apply campus-card discounts and promotions to boost sales.
Grubhub On Site supports both takeout and delivery for convenience and flexibility, in addition to other innovative campus dining solutions like self-service kiosks, campus card integrations, self-driving robots, smart lockers, reusable container programs, and more into your campus system for greater convenience.
To find out how Grubhub On Site can help upgrade your university declining balance program, get in touch today.
