Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Wells Fargo Bank Partner for SandDollar$ Off-Campus Merchant Program
 
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will expand its SandDollar$ Card System for students, faculty and staff this fall to include area merchants. The SandDollar$ Program is presented by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Wells Fargo, to provide students the opportunity to make purchases with their student ID/debit cards off campus.

Currently, when students use their cards on campus, the amount of their purchases is automatically deducted from their SandDollar$ account balances. The University will begin building the Off-Campus Merchant Program this fall with a goal of enrolling 30 local businesses by Spring 2005.

“The SandDollar$ Card is part of a student’s everyday life on campus, and the new Off-Campus Merchant Program and the partnership with Wells Fargo provide more options and convenience to our students,” said Bob Martin, Systems Programmer for the SandDollar$ System at A&M-Corpus Christi. “All students, staff and faculty can access their SandDollar$ accounts and their Wells Fargo accounts securely and conveniently using their SandDollar$ card. It’s a tremendous enhancement to our SandDollar$ program and we hope that Corpus Christi businesses will find a great partnership with the campus community through these programs.”

As students are issued their new SandDollar$ student ID cards this fall, they also can choose a Wells Fargo co-branded card that will allow holders to use their student IDs for ATM and Point-of-Sale (POS) debit transactions nationwide. The card numbers are added to the Wells Fargo system and linked to checking accounts.

“Our vision is to satisfy all of our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially. By developing solid relationships with students at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, we want to help them build habits that will serve them well over their lifetimes," said Lucy Saldana, Wells Fargo Community Banking regional store manager. "We want to be their financial services provider now, when they're students, and throughout their lives, as their needs for banking, mortgage, investments and insurance – all their financial needs – change.
 
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is a four-year comprehensive institution of higher learning dedicated to graduating students of high potential, especially from those groups who have been historically under-represented in Texas higher education. Through its commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and service, the University prepares its approximately 8,000 students for lifelong learning and for responsible participation in the global community.

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $420 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance to more than 23 million customers from more than 6,000 stores and the internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and elsewhere internationally. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is the only "Aaa"- rated bank in the United States. Wells Fargo has 11,000-plus team members and more than 510 banking locations throughout Texas.