A Big Red Dollar is just as good as the green ones in some Bowling Green stores.

Western students can now use their Big Red Dollars to purchase items such as food and school supplies in stores that have installed Big Red Card readers.

Students will swipe the Big Red Card just as they would on campus, said ID Center Director Gary Meszaros.

The system will be compatible with the Big Red Cards students currently have, he said.

Six businesses are offering the service, and another might join by the end of the week, ID Center Manager Sherry Blanton said.

New businesses are being added to the list all the time, Blanton said.

Meszaros said there’s no limit to how many stores and businesses can participate in the program. He expects that more businesses will participate as they become comfortable with the system.

Western originally planned to make the service available last spring and postponed it until May before it was enacted last week, the Herald previously reported. The delays resulted from technical complications in developing the card readers.

Blanton said there was talk of including a debit card function in the service. That idea was given up for now because only two proposals made to banks about perspective businesses met qualifications set for them.

Donna Solverg, assistant manager of the Wendy’s on 31-W Bypass, said the system is an excellent idea, and there has been a lot more business at night during the last week.

But students sometimes don’t understand that they can only use Big Red Dollars and not meal plan dollars or meal plans, and their card is declined because they don’t have Big Red Dollars, Solverg said.

Students are restricted from purchasing items such as alcohol, firearms and cigarettes with their Big Red Dollars.

Meszaros said he wants parents to know that even though the cards can be used off campus, their children won’t be able to buy anything dangerous with their Big Red Dollars.

Businesses using the new card readers:

Baskin-Robbins

Domino’s Pizza

Two locations of Papa John’s Pizza

Shapes Hair Design

Wendy’s

CVS Pharmacy

Source: ID Center Manager Sherry Blanton