The concept of "Illinibucks" seems quite similar to concepts found during large scale events where preferred or VIP members are able to gain perks such as cutting the line for a concert or getting first pick when it comes to airline seats. With thousands and thousands of students and faculty at the UofI campus, a system like this could both be beneficial and profitable. Now in order for this system to work, Illinibucks must be accessible to all students, nondiscriminatory and readily available. This kind of system would work for goods or services that most to all of the population uses or needs and requires lining up for. The university would also have to have authority or own the corporation or organization that supplies the public's good or service in order for Illinibucks to be accepted. Candidates for this could include class registration, housing registration, seating at school games, or reserving used textbooks at the school's bookstore. If Illinibucks were to be implemented, they would also need to be fairly priced. If they were priced too low, everyone would buy one and the whole preferential treatment or perks would be useless and result in just another first come first serve basis system. If they were priced too high, noone would not buy Illinibucks and it would again be issued worthless. In addition, if the price of the Illinibuck was greater then the price or value of the preferential perk, the Illinibuck would not be worth the value.
I would spend my Illinibucks on reserving classes. Registration time is always a stressful time for students as they plan their courses and hope for well scheduled days. However, once their registration slot is open, it becomes a free for all and game of chance as classes are dropped and ones added within a matter of moments. I think Illinibucks could benefit the University greatly especially with class registration because currently I have even heard of students paying other students who can register early to "reserve" seats for them. This system has become a profitable one for students and could easily be shifted to the University's benefit. While this blog post is for hypothetical purposes, I do believe Illinibucks could very well be a great asset to the University.
You begin by saying that Illinibucks must be accessible, nondiscriminatory, and readily available. Why not just imagine that each student gets an allocation of Illinibucks at the beginning of each semester and that can only be used in that semester? Wouldn't that satisfy your requirements?
ReplyDeleteI make a lot of the same points in my post. However, I'm not sure that the university would necessarily have to own all organizations or corporations that except illinibucks. The university, I believe, would simply have to be partnered with, or have a contract with, those particular corporations.
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