The Australian government announced plans for a national student ID to track progress across schools or states, says The Sydney Morning Herald. The new system would enable student course performance to be monitored throughout the duration of their school life, as they move from school to school.

The number would be attached to the government’s My School program, which posts school’s results on the Internet. The identity of students would be covered by privacy protections, allowing access to only parents and teachers - to assess student’s strengths and weaknesses. ▸

Keene State College in New Hampshire is considering a new student ID card system that would enable students to load money on their campus cards for buying textbooks, paying for laundry and gaining access to campus facilities, reports The Equinox, the college’s student newspaper.

While there are no comments on who the college will go to for this new system, administration is surveying students, faculty and schools that already have similar card systems to determine what, if any additional functions should be under the new card system. ▸

CardKing unveiled its iPhone App, now available on the iTunes Store. The free App turns any iPhone camera into a portable bar code scanner, capturing student ID and discount bar codes into the phone for retrieval later.

Students can instantly display bar codes associated with student discount programs and campus cards to enable merchants to scan the bar code directly from the iPhone’s screen. There is also the option to manually enter membership numbers for cards without bar codes. ▸

The University of Missouri has improved access control with a combination of security software and equipment installations at its 24 on-campus residential life buildings with the aid of Matrix Systems.

Using Matrix System’s Frontier equipped computer workstation, the campus can lock-down exterior doors and eliminate outside threats with only a few mouse clicks. There is also an option for exterior doors to remain locked but only accessible with ID cards during special events such as spring break or Saturday football games. ▸

College students are becoming an attractive target for identity thieves, reports The Review Online. The reasons being that the majority of enrolling college students are naive and feel they are at a low risk of being targeted and do not take the proper precautions in protecting their identity.

Right out of high school, students are barraged by crediting agencies, preying on their clean credit history and desperate need for financing. Unfortunately, a lot of college students simply toss these in the trash without a single worry. ▸

Students and faculty at American University are in the process of piloting student ID cards that are compatible with the Washington DC’s Metro SmarTrip technology, reports the GW Hatchet.

At the beginning of the year, twenty student IDs were produced that integrate with SmarTrip, a tap-and-enter technology that allows riders to enter Metro stations. The cards were then distributed to both faculty and staff for testing. ▸

Pennsylvania’s Slippery Rock University announced a five-year agreement with PNC Bank, with an emphasis on money management and financial education for its more than 9,500 students, faculty and staff.

The agreement will include PNC financial literacy workshops for students and employees with topics including basic banking, credit management, savings and investing, identity protection and home buying. ▸