Student Life reported on Monday that the Bear Bucks program was set to expand. The program allows students to use their ID cards to buy food and other goods off-campus at some private businesses. Some of the businesses include Pi Pizzeria, Market Pub House and FroYo. Even though the expanded capabilities of Bear Bucks is convenient, this change is not good. We’re concerned that the new uses for Bear Bucks only serve to further distance Wash. U. students from the value of money and their understanding of what it is to use money and spend conservatively.

Bear Bucks make sense within an on-campus context. It’s convenient to be able to use them to supplement meal points or pay for laundry and makes sense that, when on campus, one’s campus card can be used for necessities. Bear Bucks are simply added to your tuition account online without notifying parents immediately or waiting for their approval. Many parents pay for the tuition without looking over the specifics and are willing to pay for Bear Bucks without knowing exactly what they can be used for.

It seems unlikely that parents understand what Bear Bucks can be used for, especially as the program expands. Most students will choose to use Bear Bucks over their own money because it is both more convenient and doesn’t come directly out of their own pockets.

By making the campus card more like a credit card, the program distances students from the tangibility of money and the impact of spending it. For many students, parents are unknowingly paying for drinks at Blueberry Hill and now pizza at Pi. The feeling that money is being spent is absent from the purchase entirely, as with meal points. And for new students and students whose parents will pay for Bear Bucks, it ultimately keeps us in the Wash. U. bubble, with even less incentive to go beyond the Loop.

Similarly, if students are now being encouraged to eat off campus, pressure is put on those whose families are more concerned about finances than their peers. The divide between students who need to be mindful of their spending, and those who don’t, will increase.

Students are losing the opportunity to be charged with responsible spending. Instead of understanding the price of food by watching it drain out of their personal accounts, they can mentally gloss over prices the same way people do with food in Bear’s Den.