Students with accounts at PNC Bank will be greeted with increased convenience come Friday.

Six automated teller machines, located throughout the Penn State campus, will be switching from Mellon/Citizens Bank to PNC. This change is made possible through the ID+ program, which was started in 1998 to tie ATM's on campus to ID+ banking, said Joel Weidner, the associate director of Information Systems and Auxiliary Business Services at Penn State.

Originally, PNC was not part of this coalition for campus banking. Mellon Bank held many of the ATM's on campus, including two in the HUB-Robeson Center, one in each of the commons -- including Findlay, Waring and Pollock -- two at the Bryce Jordan Center, and machines at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel and Nittany Lion Inn.

Recently, Mellon Bank changed to Citizens Bank and all of their on-campus ATM's were updated to this name.

This past fall, PNC expressed interest in joining the program and signed a contract with Penn State and the ID+ program. Since Citizens Bank had never signed an actual contract with the program, the company was asked to remove its ATMs from campus so that PNC could move in.

Beginning Friday, students with accounts at PNC will be able to use many of these ATMs on campus without being subjected to a fee. The two machines at The Bryce Jordan Center will remain Citizens Bank because they are under a separate contract. The ATMs connected with the Penn State Federal Credit Union and M&T Bank will not be affected by this change.

In addition to the ATMs, PNC would like to hook up student accounts to their Penn State ID cards.

"PNC has not been able to link ID+ cards to their accounts as of yet, but are working towards that goal," Weidner said.

PNC is looking forward to the new opportunities created by joining the ID+ banking program, bank officials said.

"We're taking a larger initiative by being partners in this program and expanding the ways that students can use PNC for banking," said Rob Rutz, vice president of communications for central Pennsylvania. "ATMs are the most convenient delivery system and the ID+ program is a perfect way to increase the convenient factor for students."

Rutz said the new ATMs and the student checking plan are specifically designed for Penn State students.

He also added that PNC offers online banking -- a convenience few had recognized prior to their participation in the ID+ program.

Erica Chando (sophomore-psychology) is pleased with the switch to PNC.

"Having PNC ATMs in the HUB makes it so much more convenient for me to do my banking," she said. "Before, I would have to travel downtown to use a PNC ATM. Now I won't get charged extra fees using the ATMs at the HUB, which is a building I conveniently walk through every day."

For students with accounts through Citizens Bank, however, this switch might create inconveniences.

Melinda Schempp (senior-animal science) is a Citizens Bank user who does not foresee this switch being a real problem.

"It doesn't really affect me. I usually use the Citizens Bank ATM across the street from me. I used to use the one in the HUB, but I guess now I'll just use the one across the street more often," Schempp said.

Rutz believes that this was a move in the right direction for PNC.

"This is a very good time and way of introducing PNC to students who will then go out and get a job and hopefully stay with us as they expand their banking needs," he said.