The National Association of Campus Card Users

Colleges of the Fenway and CardSmith Launch Six Campus Fenway Card

September 28, 2006

Boston, MA: The Colleges of the Fenway and CardSmith are pleased to announce the successful launch of the Fenway Card program at each of the six Colleges of the Fenway. Each college issued new ID cards with the Fenway Card logo to incoming and returning students, faculty and staff for the current semester. The Fenway Card project (www.fenwaycard.com) is a collaborative campus ID card initiative of the Colleges of the Fenway (COF), a consortium of six colleges in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood:

- Emmanuel College

- Simmons College

- Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

- Massachusetts College of Art

- Wentworth Institute of Technology

- Wheelock College

Fenway Card is groundbreaking in concept and execution in that cards issued by each member college are accepted at all Colleges of the Fenway campuses, and in the local business community. No local card systems were installed and no staff were added at any of the campuses – the centrally-managed CardSmith transaction system powers the cards of each of the colleges. Fenway Card also established a new industry benchmark by enabling off-campus merchant acceptance of cards from seven issuers with a single countertop terminal (including the Berklee College of Music ID card).

Each college issues a version of the Fenway Card customized for its institution with common Fenway Card graphics, branding and acceptance marks. Each Fenway Card features a Fenway Cash pre-paid spending account that can be used at a wide range of accepting locations on the campuses including vending, laundry and copy machines, print release stations, bookstores, retail stores, campus departments and dining facilities. All cards are also used for library access at all the colleges. Four schools use “proximity” cards with embedded RFID technology for door access. More than two hundred terminal devices are already deployed on and around the campuses, and over 100 more are scheduled for installation in the next several weeks.

Fenway Card is also setting high standards in cardholder service and support; students and authorized account users (e.g.: parents) have on-line access to account balances and transaction history and multiple methods for adding value to one or more accounts. Students, parents and administrative staff also have toll free access to a customer service center and help desk managed by CardSmith. On-campus service providers; bookstore operators, dining service providers, laundry service providers, etc. benefit from automated daily funds settlement, and card-accepting business owners and operators on and off-campus are supported by a specialized technical help desk and call center.

“Fenway Card is a very high-profile and visible project for the Colleges of the Fenway, and we could not be more pleased with its launch and roll-out” said Claire Ramsbottom, Executive Director, Colleges of the Fenway. “It’s been on the drawing board for a long time, and it is really satisfying and exciting to see it come together and take off so fast. Students started using the card at local businesses literally the first day the program launched. Many people on the campuses, on our staff and at CardSmith worked very hard to get us to this place, and it has really paid off. The success of the launch exceeded our hopes and expectations, and the response in our community has been excellent. We’re looking forward to continuing to grow and develop the program for many years”

Louise Litchfield, Director of Business Operations, Wentworth Institute of Technology, said: “Fenway Cash deposits are over twice as high as they were in the best year we ever had under our old program. Our students, parents and staff really like the card and the service, and our local business community has embraced it. The CardSmith team did a great job managing a very complex launch, and it really couldn’t have gone much better. Plus, Wentworth no longer has to worry about managing a card system, which frees-up resources for the college. We are extremely pleased with the launch of the new Fenway Card program and its impact on our campus and students.”

Fenway Cash is also accepted by neighborhood businesses and merchants. Over forty off-campus business already accept Fenway Cash including Domino’s Pizza, Uno’s Chicago Grill, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, CVS Pharmacy, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Dunkin Donuts, Economy Hardware, Boston Center for Oral Health, 5 local pizza restaurants and a host of other service providers. Fenway Cash merchants also accept cards issued by Berklee College of Music. Merchants can accept cards from all seven campuses with a single industry standard countertop terminal, and other area campuses have the option to join and participate in this growing network of off-campus businesses.

“We have been accepting another campus card for some time, and have been looking for a way to tap into the students from other schools in our area. We saw business the first day we installed the Fenway Card terminal and put up the signs, and it continues to increase. The fact that we can accept cards from so many schools is a real plus. We are getting business we did not have before. I like the support I’ve gotten from the CardSmith people.” Manager, Qdoba Mexican Grill.

John Eldert, Vice President for Administration, Berklee College of Music said: “When we made the decision to go with CardSmith, we hoped that other schools in our neighborhood would join in. We spoke with the Fenway Consortium when they were evaluating CardSmith and told them our experience had been positive. We are obviously very excited and pleased to see the whole Fenway Consortium come on board so soon after we did. It’s exciting for our neighborhood and a benefit to our campus. We really believe collaboration is the way of the future in campus cards, and that we’re just scratching the surface here. It just makes so much sense for campuses to work together this way and take the major technology investments and operating costs off the table.”

As part of the Fenway Card launch, four of the colleges replaced dining POS systems with a new CardSmith system to process meal plan accounts as well as Fenway Cash. All dining locations at the colleges accept Fenway Cash for food purchases outside meal plans. And all Fenway Cash accepting locations – on and off-campus - benefit from automated daily funds settlement and easy access to data and reporting. Each school retains full ownership of access control & meal plan parameters for its individual card program.

“This POS system is more tailored to the needs of our business than the one it replaced” said Jeffrey Stone, ARAMARK Dining Director, Simmons College. “The installation and training support was professional and the launch was smooth. We have credit card acceptance fully integrated in the POS system, which is a big step forward. For the first time, we're able to process campus cards and any other card a customer gives us through the POS system. My staff and I have web-enabled access to real time card transaction data and to the reporting system, and we have multiple back-up options in case we lose connectivity for any reason. We take pride in the quality of product and service we provide at Simmons, and the card system is helping us to enhance our customers experience. We're very pleased to be part of this project".

“The Fenway Card launch kicked off CardSmith’s third year of operations, and our systems and processes handled a complex, multi-campus system and service launch very smoothly” said Jay Summerall, CardSmith President. “We are extremely pleased with the early returns from the Fenway Card project. It’s been exciting for our team to develop and work on such an innovative project, and especially gratifying to see the students adopt and use the card in volume from Day 1. Our processing technology and business model have broken new ground for our company and industry. At the same time, we are delivering a very high quality service to our campus clients for a fraction of the cost they would otherwise incur. And there’s still a lot of room for growth with the Fenway Card and in the Boston community.”

About Colleges of the Fenway:

Formed in 1996, the Colleges of the Fenway is a collaborative effort of six neighboring Boston-based colleges in the Fenway area. This collaboration was created to add value to student academic and social life while seeking innovative methods of investing in new services and containing the costs of higher education. Collectively, the colleges represent over 11,000 undergraduate students.

About CardSmith:

CardSmith is a card technology and management company dedicated to making it easy and affordable for any campus to provide advanced campus card services. The company offers the market’s only fully-managed campus card service, including a customized transaction processing solution for each client integrated with professional management, marketing and customer support services. CardSmith’s service eliminates the need for individual campuses to buy or maintain proprietary card systems or dedicate staff to program management, delivering next-generation performance for a fraction of the cost of the traditional campus card operation.

For more information, please visit www.card-smith.com.