Students, faculty, staff and administrators walking into Fountain Dining Hall and Port City Java are now given a new payment option for their meal — their debit card.

Debit card use at University Dining facilities has been a large issue in the past and will continue to be until all on-campus eateries offer this feature.

We applaud the steps that University Dining has taken thus far by providing a service at Fountain and Port City Java that students have been requesting for some time. We also recognize its efforts to protect the personal data transmitted when using debit and credit cards.

But let’s not shuffle our feet when there is still progress to be made. This University has a history of stringing along projects and making them take longer than necessary to finish, such as the Derr Track renovation. A delay like this shouldn’t happen to the campus-wide debit and credit card implementation.

University Dining should strive to have all dining areas equipped with the ability to accept debit cards by the end of this semester, thus allowing students to swipe their plastic by the start of the spring semester.

We admire the efforts of Student Body President Bobby Mills and John Mickey, a junior and a member of the University Dining Committee, for pushing this issue for students.

These two individuals should continue their advocacy and push University Dining to complete the task by the end of the semester. Once completed it will be a true accomplishment that both groups can be proud of.

With the recent success, students see the light at the end of the tunnel for this project. University Dining is too close to the finish not to buckle down and conclude transforming our campus into the plastic-friendly one that students desire.