Everybody knows Penn State loves money.

But what happens when the university's students turn the tables, making money off of their school by scalping football tickets for a profit?

The answer is that the athletic department goes into panic mode and instinctively installs a new football ticket system that seems to have effectively ended the days of student scalpers who sometimes made hundreds of dollars on eBay.

Yes, Penn State was attempting to look out for the interests of the students when they decided to store tickets on student ID cards, and yes, no one will miss grossly overpaying to get into the White Out game. For that, we give Penn State credit.

But the athletic department's seemingly rushed answer to the scalping problem has created a number of burning questions.

How can students bring a non-student friend or family member to the game?

What is the process for selling an unwanted ticket?

Will students be able to sell their ticket for more than face value, and are they guaranteed at least face value in return?

Answers to these questions had "not yet been confirmed" or were "yet to be finalized or approved" when students paid nearly $250 for season tickets last week.

Correction, that's the students who were even eligible to buy tickets after Penn State inexplicably decided to replace reminder e-mails for the pre-registration process with a "Student Central" section on gopsusports.com.

The Web site, Penn State said, offers 24/7 football ticket information to students. There was plenty of information about how to purchase tickets, but that's not the same as reminder e-mails, which would have cost the athletic department nothing.

It's clear that Penn State should have worked out all the kinks before jumping into the new system.

The students -- already asked to drop roughly $125 to watch games against weaker opponents such as Akron, Syracuse, Temple and Eastern Illinois early in the season -- deserved more.

It's beyond reason to suggest that the Class of 2010, which snatched up tickets in about 90 seconds just a year ago, would not purchase all available tickets within even the first day of the sale due solely to curbed scalpers.

There's no doubt the ticket sale process has made great strides in only a few years, but there's also no doubt that the athletic department can listen to the complaints that students have this year and do even better next spring.