With the University’s new and improved Cash Cart, students will not only be able to hitch a ride to class, but they will learn ways to improve their budgeting and collect prizes.
Sponsored by Student Money Management Services, Cash Cart is a modified version of the Discovery Channel game show “Cash Cab.”
Contestants are given a ride to their destination and are asked a series of financial trivia questions based on ways to improve spending.
Student contestants will be accompanied by a driver and a celebrity passenger from the administration to serve as the host. Riders are able to phone a friend or even shout out to someone on campus for help. Winners will be able to choose from prizes ranging from hats, sunglasses or $5 added to a BG Bucks card. When three questions are answered incorrectly the game is over, but students still receive a ride to class.
Patricia Donnelly is the program manager of Student Money Management Services and said the Cash Cart will not only help students learn helpful spending tips, but the look of the cart will be sure to get plenty attention. Equipped with customized brown and orange leather interior, six-person seating capacity and a lighted blinking checkered ceiling, the new Cash Cart will be up and running by the end of the month.
“Last semester we had a Cash Cart operating on campus, but we wanted to design something better so students wouldn’t confuse [it] for another grounds cart,” Donnelly said. “We collected over $10,000 from different donors to help finance the cart. We wanted to implicate the idea of saving money and going green, so when the idea for an electric-powered cart came up, we knew we had a good thing going.”
Though the Cash Cart has been operating on campus since last semester, designers of the updated version wanted to incorporate an appealing look with an environmentally safe design.
Barry Piersol is the head designer of the new Cash Cart and the director of the electric vehicle institute in the Visual Communication Technology department. Piersol’s crew also devised the University’s new hybrid electric busses. He said the design process for the Cash Cart was an exciting experience and came together nicely in a short amount of time.
“I had a ball working with the manufacturers,” Piersol said. “They didn’t buck any option or suggestion I threw at them; they just kept telling me ‘Make this thing cool.’ After I sent the design ideas to the manufacture, the whole thing was completed in 30 days.”
The cart was purchased from an electric vehicle manufacture in South Carolina and was introduced to SMM on Presidents Day of this year.
April is financial awareness month and the debut of the new Cash Cart is no coincidence.
Senior Brittany Kendricks is a volunteer at SMM and also drives the Cash Cart. She said the response has been positive but the new cart will give SMM the publicity it needs to get students aware of their program.
“Cash Cart will be the main marketing tool for our services,” Kendricks said. “As of right now, you can only rely on flyers to a certain extent and the cart is something physical that will put us out there so students can see and hear us coming and know who sponsors Cash Cart.”
For financial advice, look for Cash Cart on campus or check out Student Money Management at 406 Mosley Hall.