BruinCards to serve as room keys starting fall 2016

Beginning fall 2016, students will use BruinCards instead of separate room keys to access their dorm rooms, UCLA Housing officials said.

Barbara Wilson, associate director of room operations for UCLA Housing, said officials and students were initially concerned someone could enter a student’s room with just his or her BruinCard. Students showed more support for the change when officials said they plan to continue assigning random access codes to ensure security, she added.

Officials have already implemented the change in Rieber Court, Hedrick Court and Hitch Suites. Wilson added the switch has not introduced additional costs because BruinCards are compatible with the system that is already in place.

“I like (the idea of) not having more cards than I need,” said Collin Ching, a second-year mathematics of computation student. “Having an extra key card that only gets you into the room but doesn’t do anything else is much easier to forget (than your BruinCard).”

Nicholas Perrando, a Hitch Suites resident and second-year financial actuarial mathematics student, said he misses having a separate room key.

“If I lose my white (room) key, I can get it replaced easily,” Perrando said. “But if I lose my BruinCard, I lose everything. It’s more expensive to replace.”

Students can ask for up to six replacement rooms keys, before paying $5 per additional key card. Students must pay $25 for every replacement BruinCard.

Wilson said officials will continue to implement the change in more residential halls throughout the year, and all halls will be updated by the next academic year.