Chicago Card Services Overview
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Paying with your ID at Chicago
You may access several pre-paid debit accounts with your i-card.
- Chicago meal plans track your allotted days of use at dining halls. Chicago i-cards only.
- Chicago block plans track your allotted visits to all-you-can-eat locations. Chicago i-cards only.
- Dragon Dollar$ are accepted payment at campus-run eateries, convenience stores, fast food locations, residence hall laundries, public photocopiers, and the Student Games & Bowling Center. Add Dragon Dollar$ online with your credit card. Chicago i-cards only.
- A TCF Bank account linked to a student i-card allows students to pay for purchases anywhere a PIN-based debit card is accepted.
Card services for Chicago
The following table lists the most common card services and privileges at Chicago.
| Card service | Description |
| Banking with TCF Bank | Students may optionally choose to open a TCF Bank account and link it to their i-card so that it functions as a PIN-based debit and ATM card. |
| Door access |
Persons who need door access with an ID card receive access as determined and set up by the access control coordinator for the applicable campus building or department.
Enabling ID cards to open doors is not automatic, is not centralized, and is not controlled by i-card Programs. |
| Food |
Dragon Dollar$ are accepted for purchases at campus eateries, dining halls, and fast food locations.
Meal plans track your pre-paid allotment of meals at dining halls. |
| Health care access | Eligible students use i-cards to check in at Family Medicine Centers. An i-card is not proof of medical insurance. |
| Laundry | Campus Housing residence hall tenants access free laundry service with their i-card. |
| Library services | Students, faculty, and staff with valid i-cards have borrowing privileges. Borrowing privileges and allowances may vary at each UIC library location. |
| Mass transit | Many enrolled students with i-cards qualify for a separate U-PASS for Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) trains and buses. |
| Meal plans | Students and employees may purchase meal plans. |
| Parking | You may use your ID card to enter and exit facilities where you have a paid parking assignment. |
| Photocopying | Patrons pay for copies at Daley Library by adding stored value funds to a Flames card at Card-add Value stations. |
| Printing | Cardholders pay for prints at U-Print stations using a quota on their i-card and/or stored value funds on their Flames card. |
| Recreation | Most students and employees may use facilities with free or paid memberships. |
| Ticket discounts to Athletics events | Current students receive free entrance with their i-card to UIC Athletics events |
| Ticket discounts at UIC Pavilion performances | Students receive discounts on tickets to many events. |
Related links
- Five things ID cards don't do
- Chicago campus debit accounts
- FAQs for Chicago card services
- Chicago ID Center