Students looking to save a few extra bucks at Bento and other local businesses now can with the release of Campus Rewards, a discount card to current UF students.
The card, released last week, offers exclusive discounts to members and allows student organizations to register and raise profits by selling cards.
“You can support a good cause just by buying these cards,” said creator and co-founder Karthik Shanadi.
Shanadi partnered with Luke McGurrin and former UF student Luke Sipka this past summer to create Campus Rewards, and are also part of Starter Space, an incubator space in downtown Gainesville that launched two weeks ago.
The card features 15 local vendors, which vary from 101 Cantina to Study Edge. The company is working to include more businesses and update its website with new offers, Shanadi said.
“We all wanted to think of a new way to fundraise and give back value to those who donated,” said McGurrin, a 22-year-old finance senior.
A one-time use of all the discounts lets users save about $270, Shanadi said. But unlike other popular coupon books like Gator Greenbacks, most of Campus Rewards’ discounts are reusable until its expiration in December 2013.
“It’s basically a rewards program just for being a student,” said Shanadi, a 21-year-old food and resource economics senior.
The cards are $10 and released by semester. Membership requires a valid UFID.
Students interested in purchasing a card can order online or stop by Chain Reaction Bike Shop or New Scooters 4 Less.
Organizations can sign up online to receive cards on consignment and sell as fundraising. Half of the profits go back to organizations.
“As students from UF, we’ve all been there,” Shanadi said. “We know how frustrating it can get to raise money for philanthropies. We just want to support student organizations.”
A version of this story ran on page 8 on 9/9/2013 under the headline "Gator-made discount card offers students deals, groups profits"
