Student Union is looking into getting the Bear Bucks program accepted at more venues after its successful debut this fall by the University.

Students could use Bear Bucks, which were previously called Campus Card points, on campus at dining facilities, the bookstore, Bear Necessities and more. Now students are also able to use their ID cards to buy their meals at Bobo Noodlehouse and Kayak’s Coffee, both northeast of campus.

Student Union recently surveyed students to determine where students would most like to be able to use Bear Bucks. The survey was broken down into several categories include “Apartment/Room Accessory Merchants,” “Clothing/Supplies Merchants,” “Entertainment Merchants” and “Restaurant Merchants.”

Popular requests include Schnuck’s, Target, the Galleria 6 Cinemas, Trader Joe’s, FroYo on the Delmar Loop, Pi and the Pageant.

Members of the University community are enthusiastic about the program.

“I think it’s a good idea, especially since they are in our neighborhood in University City. It is quite convenient to us if we can use Campus Card to do shopping in that area,” said Adrien Chou, a first year graduate student.

Kayak’s general manager Kevin Reddy says that the Bear Bucks program has been a success thus far.

“We’re very happy with the program. There is no loss in it for us. It is a way to guarantee additional business,” Reddy said. “It has been everything we hoped it would be. We look forward to seeing how much it will increase as time goes by.”

According to Reddy, more students are using Bear Bucks as the semester continues. He also says that Bear Bucks are making the restaurant more attractive to underclassmen who were not previously inclined make the trek to Kayaks.

“It continues to climb, it has certainly made a difference in our sales. We are also getting more underclass students,” Reddy said.

According to Dining Services Manager Paul Schimmele, parents approve of the Bear Bucks program because it gives them control of where their students shop off campus. The University needs to pre-approve a business before they can accept Bear Bucks.

“Parents like that this account can only be used at university-approved places,” Schimmele said.

Schimmele says that the idea to use Bear Bucks off campus first came up because many students like to eat off campus.

“A lot of our students go off campus so there has been an initiative to centralize some of the things related to the use of the account,” he said.

Members of the University administration do not think that Bear Bucks will detract from the success of campus dining services.

“I think that it gives students an option they didn’t have before, but it doesn’t change student actions,” Schimmele said.

Still, if on campus sales decline drastically, the University will look into altering the Bear Bucks program.

“I don’t think that will be the case, but if that changes, there will be a discussion on campus,” Bon Appetit Resident District Manager Nadeem Siddiqui said.

Students can add money to their Bear Bucks accounts through WebSTAC.