Temple University has a dire shortage of on-campus ATMs. There are barely 10 of them (with only five documented on the PNC Web site) and more than 20,000 students who require ATM access during their busy days. Adding more ATMs to the Temple campus would be one of the best possible ways to meet the demands of a growing student and faculty population.
As a matter of fact, getting money from an ATM on campus is kind of how student service offices work at Temple.
If I want to check on the status of my loan, I go to Student Financial Services. After a mind-bending 20-minute wait, I finally talk to a representative and come out with no answers, a throbbing headache and wasted time.
And when I get blown off, the lovely representative says I need to go to another office where the exact same thing that just happened will probably happen again.
The ATM search has a story all too familiar. I can wait in line for 10 minutes on Liacouras Walk, but who has 10 minutes to spare in the middle of the day to get money?
I sure don’t, so I’ll leave Liacouras Walk and go to the library to find the same line. I’ll find that line in the Student Center, too. A five to 10-minute wait isn’t uncommon for anyone who wants to do banking at an ATM on campus.
Then, once you actually reach the head of the line for the ATM, it seems appropriate that after a long wait, the person in front of me is convinced that the ATM is some sort of new-fangled alien technology.
It takes them forever to merely check their balance. It’s either him or the guy who has five checks to deposit.
I still cannot understand why there are only two ATMs in the PNC on Liacouras Walk. That branch is the biggest on campus and where most people do their banking. There should be at least five machines in the main branch alone.
Five machines are not uncommon for a large branch with high traffic like Temple’s. It wouldn’t be unreasonable either to ask for one or two more PNC machines at the SAC either. That ATM line somehow always ends up blocking the stairs to the food court and causes horrible traffic jams.
PNC makes sure there is enough ATM access for students with housing. There are ATMs in Hardwick Hall and 1300. Why can’t PNC meet the demands of their commuters as well?
The bottom line is, we want our money and we want to get it quickly without any hassle. With the current number of ATMs on campus, that is damn near impossible. Do yourself a favor: Call PNC and tell them how much it sucks waiting in line whenever you need money. I already have.
James Saul can be reached at jamsaul@temple.edu.
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