The Bear Bucks program will officially come to an end on June 30, according to a March Today@Brown announcement. The University is sunsetting the program due to a 95% decline in usage over the past eight years, Vice President of Business Affairs, Auxiliary Services and Real Estate John Luipold wrote in an email to The Herald.
This reflects a “massive shift by the campus community toward universal payment methods,” such as credit and debit cards and Apple Pay, Luipold added. The University is also integrating Venmo as a payment method for campus services, “as circumstances permit.”
Bear Bucks were previously used for printing, laundry and at the Brown Bookstore. Now, students receive a $30 printing credit each semester, laundry services are free and the Brown Bookstore has transitioned to a point of sale system that doesn’t support Bear Bucks.
The program relies on “expensive-to-maintain” infrastructure with “outdated hardware,” Luipold wrote.
The closure is occurring in four stages. On March 26, the Brown Bookstore stopped accepting Bear Bucks, and on March 31, students were no longer able to deposit money into their Bear Bucks account. Students will have until May 15 to spend remaining Bear Bucks before the program officially ends on June 30.
The decision was a result of “extensive evaluation” as well as conversations with Brown Dining Services, the Office of Information Technology, Financial Services, Card Services and the Division of Campus Life, Luipold wrote. The group also considered the decisions of peer institutions — such as Harvard and New York University — to cancel similar campus cash programs.
As of April 3, Luipold has received no direct inquiries from students, faculty or staff regarding the program’s end. “Given the low utilization, we do not expect disruption to campus operations,” he wrote.
“I feel like no one really uses Bear Bucks,” Chloe Cheng ’29 said. “So it’s fine that they’re closing because nobody has them anyways.”
Vice President of Dining Services George Barboza wrote in an email to The Herald that dining halls have seen no challenges in adopting the new system. “Bear Bucks transactions in dining operations were minimal at best.”
Barboza added that no students have expressed concerns regarding the program’s end.
But Khanh Van Nguyen ’28 said she was “devastated” to learn the program was ending. Nguyen used Bear Bucks in dining halls at least once a week.
Nguyen, who is not on a meal plan, said she uses Bear Bucks to go to the dining halls. “It just feels like I can’t really do that anymore,” she said.
“I heard a lot of people say Bear Bucks are not useful. I think I would just want people to know they were of use to people that are specifically off the meal plan,” Nguyen said. “It’s just what helped me connect to Brown as a Brunonian.”
