From University of Nebraska-Lincoln

No more saving stubs: Husker student tickets go electronic

 By Lorena Carmona

WORLD-HERALD Bureau

 LINCOLN — University of Nebraska-Lincoln students attending home football games won't be using physical tickets to get in this year.

Instead, UNL has gone electronic. The athletic ticket office will load the tickets onto the student ID cards, known as N Cards.

Angie Christ-Zemunski, a ticket office associate, said the change was made to reduce printing and staffing costs. The move eliminates the need to hire temporary staff to hand out student tickets and frees up current staff.

“We are trying to stay up with the times,” Christ-Zemunski said. She said the ticket office decided to make the change after studying the system at other universities.

Christ-Zemunski said it will take some time to get used to the new system, but she thinks it's a plus for students.

They will have one less thing to worry about on game days, she said. The N Card is something students always carry, but there's always a possibility of theft or loss on a paper ticket.

“It will limit waiting in line, validating and the possibility of loss,” Christ-Zemunski said. 

But there is a down side for students: Selling those tickets just became more difficult.

Students will have to sell each ticket individually and will have to go through an online process to transfer them. The buyer will have to pay an upgrade fee to the university, ranging from $32 to $52, depending on the game.

“I don't watch the games; I do business,” graduate student Mamur Hossain said. Though it will now take a little more work, Hossain plans to keep selling.

“When the Huskers win, people are willing to pay,” he said.

Another change for students: They will no longer be able to switch between the students sections in the South and East Stadiums. It's one or the other, depending on where they are assigned.

Eric Kamler, the president of the UNL's student government — the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska — hopes the change will keep students in the student section.

The university wants to see students more engaged at the games, and that's tough when students sell their tickets, he said.

Kamler said a small part of Husker tradition will be lost: No more ticket stubs to save. Kamler says he still has the stub from his first Husker football game.

The ticket office sold out of student football tickets in the spring but a few have become available because of cancellations.

Last year, tickets sold out early and they were never put back on sale, leaving many freshmen ticketless.

How students use their tickets:

»Tickets will be loaded onto student N Cards on Monday.

»The N Card will be scanned for entry to Memorial Stadium on game day.

»Only students with full-time status at the time the card is scanned will be admitted.

How students sell tickets to nonstudents:

»Students will sign into their account at Huskers.com.

»Students will submit a transfer request..

»The recipient will be sent an email invitation and will have 48 hours to respond.

»The buyer will be asked to pay an fee online to upgrade to a full-priced ticket. The fee will be $42 for the Southern Mississippi game; $32 for the Arkansas State and Idaho State games; and $52 for all Big Ten games.

»Once payment is made, the buyer will be able to print a ticket that can be scanned at the stadium.

»If the recipient does not respond within 48 hours, the transfer is canceled and the ticket remains on the student's N Card.

»Once a ticket is transferred, it cannot be reversed.

Contact the writer: 402-444-6618, lorena.carmona@owh.com

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120824/NEWS/120829818/1694