Transfer Pricing

It seems to me that anything that the Illinibucks can be applied to would be something the students would use them for. The main possible uses that come to mind would firstly be to move to the head of the line at any on-campus food provider, so for example using one would allow you to move to the front of the line at Chipotle. I think that this use would work pretty well, especially if students were only given a set amount of Illinibucks and could not buy more, because that means that students don’t have to wait in line when they are in a hurry, however the set number means that it won’t be impossible to get food if you are waiting in line, because only so many people will want to use up their Illinibucks at that particular time.

Another possible use would be that these would allow someone to go to the front of the line at bookstores as well as food providers, which would be especially handy at the beginning of the semester when everyone is purchasing books and the lines at the Illini Bookstore and TIS tend to get extremely long. Once again, though, if some people were able to get more Illinibucks than others because they could afford more, it would put the students would couldn’t at a disadvantage because they would likely have to wait in line even longer without having the added benefit of being able to, at least to some degree, predict how much longer the line will be like students have now.

A third possible use would be to jump ahead in registering for classes. This would change the allocation method from being based on your year in school, any possible honors programs, and your major. I think that this would be particularly ineffective, because it would make it more difficult for students who need a class, for example a senior who needs a particular class for their major, to get into the course.

I personally think that in all of these circumstances the llinibucks would work better if everyone was given a set amount, rather than being allowed to purchase them. If students were able to purchase as many as they wanted, then there is the potential that Illinibucks become almost necessary in order to get to the front of whatever line the situation involves, because if one student doesn’t use them, they will just have to wait longer because so many other students will.  I personally would spend my Illinibucks when I did not have the time to wait in a line, or if they were used for class registration, when it was a class I urgently needed. I would try to not waste them because I have a limited budget and would want to avoid ever having to buy more.

If the administered price was too low, there would be an issue with Illinibucks becoming the norm as I mentioned above. A majority of people would use them fairly frequently, and the more people that used them, the more beneficial it would become to use one yourself. If the administered price was too high, then they could serve as a differentiator between students who have enough money to feel comfortable spending it in that way (or who’s parents have enough money), and students who don’t. This seems unfair to me, however this would not be the only place where money serves as a divided in that aspect, and so it would probably seem normal if this policy was administered.