Katie Ross had her wallet and her GWorld card stolen this past summer. When she applied for a new social security card, her fee was waived. She thought GW might extend the same courtesy in replacing her GWorld card, but instead the GWorld card office asked her to pay a $25 fee.
"I thought if I brought in my police report they would sympathize and waive the fee … I thought GW might have some sympathy for my case," she said.
GWorld cards are issued to students, faculty, staff and contractors. The $25 fee was implemented for lost cards four years ago. In spring 2006, the office began charging the fee for stolen cards as well, said Nancy Haaga, managing director of Campus Support Services.
The GWorld card office replaced 4,500 lost or stolen cards last year and collected about $112,500 in fines, Haaga said.
"The GWorld card replacement fee was established to help defray these costs and act as an incentive for students to safeguard their GWorld card at all times and discourage frivolous and costly card replacement requests," Haaga wrote in an e-mail.
Haaga said before the fee was implemented the number of replacement cards doled out each year was increasing at "significant rates" until the GWorld card program could no longer cover the cost of replacement cards.
She declined to reveal the cost of replacing a GWorld card, but said some of the expenses involved material-related costs as well as the costs of labor, infrastructure and software license fees.
She also said the $25 fee is consistent with the fee charged by other universities for debit and identification cards and governmental agencies for driver's licenses and passports.
American, New York and Northwestern universities each charge $15 to replace cards similar to the GWorld card.
Some students who have replaced their cards multiple times think GW should be more lenient when it comes to lost and especially stolen GWorld cards.
"They use the same picture. It's a piece of 3 inch plastic. I can't imagine that the process of (making a new card) costs so much money," said Cameron Tepfer, a sophomore who said he has lost his card five times.
"I thought if I brought in my police report they would sympathize and waive the fee … I thought GW might have some sympathy for my case," she said.
GWorld cards are issued to students, faculty, staff and contractors. The $25 fee was implemented for lost cards four years ago. In spring 2006, the office began charging the fee for stolen cards as well, said Nancy Haaga, managing director of Campus Support Services.
The GWorld card office replaced 4,500 lost or stolen cards last year and collected about $112,500 in fines, Haaga said.
"The GWorld card replacement fee was established to help defray these costs and act as an incentive for students to safeguard their GWorld card at all times and discourage frivolous and costly card replacement requests," Haaga wrote in an e-mail.
Haaga said before the fee was implemented the number of replacement cards doled out each year was increasing at "significant rates" until the GWorld card program could no longer cover the cost of replacement cards.
She declined to reveal the cost of replacing a GWorld card, but said some of the expenses involved material-related costs as well as the costs of labor, infrastructure and software license fees.
She also said the $25 fee is consistent with the fee charged by other universities for debit and identification cards and governmental agencies for driver's licenses and passports.
American, New York and Northwestern universities each charge $15 to replace cards similar to the GWorld card.
Some students who have replaced their cards multiple times think GW should be more lenient when it comes to lost and especially stolen GWorld cards.
"They use the same picture. It's a piece of 3 inch plastic. I can't imagine that the process of (making a new card) costs so much money," said Cameron Tepfer, a sophomore who said he has lost his card five times.
