For Nick Taro, the new card-based football ticket system means not paying $120 for the Illinois game this year.
Taro (sophomore-engineering) attended every game last year, even though he didn't get season tickets. But he consistently paid more than face value for the experience.
"I'm glad it's now on the card," he said. "It was a lot easier to get tickets. The people who actually want to go to the games were able to get tickets."
The new online Student Ticket Exchange and "My Penn State Student Ticket Manager" Web sites launch today and are designed to help students like Taro enjoy football games for a fair price.
"It's really us working with the students to help curb the exorbitant scalping prices that have been going on," said Greg Myford, Penn State's associate athletic director.
While he could provide no current estimate on the traffic volume he expects the site to experience, Myford said the system is prepared to deal with at least as many visitors as the Student Central site has been handling on an ongoing basis.
Many different aspects of the system have been tested over the past few weeks, he said.
"We spent a lot of time this summer getting the system in place and working with Ticketmaster, which is really the backbone of the system," he said. "We feel prepared and very excited."
Students will be able to sell their tickets for $30 to $60 for up to six games or forward them to a friend on the Web site. They will be able to buy group block tickets and purchase tickets online for themselves and a guest.
Ticket purchasers must pay a 15 percent processing fee in addition to the ticket itself, and guest tickets will include a $29 validation charge. A valid credit card is the only possible means of transaction.
New deadlines for selling and purchasing tickets will be in effect as well: Students hoping to sell tickets must do so by 5 p.m. Thursday the week of a home game.
Myford doesn't foresee any problems, but even if complications arise, he said the next few weeks will provide the university with feedback and an opportunity to react to any questions and snags.
"With a complete overhaul of the system like this, for us to assume that everything will work as you need it to would probably be naïve," he said. "But so far, so good."
Despite the new price controls for students who don't have season tickets, some remain confused about the details.
Nicholas Dramesi (senior-psychology) has season tickets and plans on selling a few, but he still is not sure how the system works. He said he prefers the paper system.
"It'll be much harder to sell tickets," he said. "I don't see any benefits in how they're doing it now, beyond keeping the costs down. But it'll be less accessible and harder for guests to come to games."
Myford said the system will be new for everyone, and he strongly encourages students to look over the process on the Student Central Web site.
