Starting this fall, students who are using the One Card Plus — the campus ID combined with a Wells Fargo debit card — are required to replace their old cards with new and improved ones.
The biggest change featured in the new card is the additional magnetic stripe, which separates the campus account information from the bank account information. The front of the card will also feature a new design.
Brandon Thomas, a spokesman for UNC Auxiliary Services, said more than 5,000 students and 200 faculty members will be affected by this change.
Thomas said the change was made mainly for security reasons.
“We want to protect our students and make sure all their financial transactions are as safe as possible”, he said.
The announcement came after as many as 70 million people with Target credit cards had their information stolen in a major security data breach in December 2013. Since the incident, U.S. companies have taken extra precautions to protect their customers’ information.
Thomas said the University and students will not need to pay for the cost of replacing cards, since Wells Fargo will pay for them, and that this change is not only happening on UNC’s campus, but at other universities around the country as well.
Nathan Shafar, manager of the UNC One Card Office, said he hasn’t been aware of any security issues happening on campus and that this change is meant to prevent any possible problems.
