While Ohio State has abandoned the traditional punch-style tickets for the new scan-ready season tickets, other Big Ten schools such as University of Michigan and Penn State University continue to use individual game tickets.
When OSU first implemented the new student season football tickets, its purpose was to help prevent ticket fraud and track students for marketing purposes. However, so far it has resulted in long lines at Ohio Stadium’s gates.
Although no other team in the Big Ten has yet to install the bar code-style student tickets for football games, ticket office officials at Michigan, Michigan State and Iowa have all had experiences with ticket fraud.
At Michigan, a replacement ticket may be purchased with the student’s ID for $5 if a student loses their student ticket or if it is stolen. However, the ticket office reserves the right to charge full price for a public or student replacement ticket for more important games.
“Our policy gives us the opportunity to replace a lost ticket for a $5 charge, but we do charge the full price of the ticket for bigger games, whether it’s Notre Dame, Michigan State or Ohio State,” said Marty Bodnar, director of ticket services at Michigan. “We feel like doing this helps to prevent any problems we may run into. We want to be consistent with the students and the public, and more customer friendly.”
Michigan also has a policy of student ticket validation to help prevent student ticket fraud. If a student wishes to give a ticket to someone who is not a student, the student may have the ticket validated for $25 so the ticket may be used without a student ID. The ticket remains the same, but has a hologram sticker placed upon it to prove validation.
Penn State uses a similar policy as Michigan, giving students the option to upgrade from a student ticket to a public ticket.
“If a student fails to provide their ID, they have the option to upgrade their ticket for a $20 charge. This gives the student the opportunity to sit in a reserved seat without having an ID card. It is a system that has worked well for us so far,” said Josie Koll, ticket manager at Penn State.
Students who lose their ticket at Michigan State or Iowa they would be out of luck. Michigan State’s policy is clearly stated on its Web site: The athletic ticket office does not replace lost, stolen or destroyed vouchers. At Iowa, public and alumni season tickets may be replaced for the ticket’s full price if lost or stolen. However, if a student season ticket were lost, it cannot be replaced.
While students at OSU have assigned seats and specific gates to enter for each home game, student seats at Penn State, Michigan State and Iowa are all general admission.
As long as a student arrives at the game with their ticket voucher and student ID, he or she is permitted to sit anywhere in the general admission section. However, those students may only enter through a specific number of gates.
Penn State has found this to be most efficient, giving students the opportunity to sit in different seats in the section each week.
“We don’t have a system where you purchase your tickets with the group of people you want to sit with before the season starts because you may not have the same friends at the beginning of the season,” Koll said.
The OSU ticket office is using the new style of tickets to track who attends each game and who does not, but other Big Ten schools use the old method of counting ticket stubs to verify student attendance at the games. However, ticket officials at Penn State, Michigan and Iowa have discussed the possibilities of switching to a bar code-style ticket.
“We have talked about it lately, but if it happens, it won’t be for quite a while,” said Donna Howe, secretary to David Sandstrum, director of ticket operations for Iowa. “The tickets we use now are very efficient. We’ve always done it this way.”
Penn State has considered electronically putting the tickets on the students’ ID card, where the ID would then be scanned much like a credit card upon entering the stadium.
“The idea always comes up, but it is always rejected because of the fact it may slow down the process of students entering the stadium,” Koll said.
Prices for student tickets at other schools are very comparable to the prices OSU charges for a season ticket.
Penn State charges $145 for a student season ticket covering seven games. Michigan charges $142 for a season ticket for seven games. Michigan State’s games go for $9.50 a game each for a student and Iowa charges $105 for a seven-game season student ticket. However, students at Iowa may purchase an additional season ticket for non-students for $160.
