Students in the faculty of arts will soon be able to get discounts at local businesses through a new program from the Arts Undergraduate Society.
The Purple Card Program — which the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) announced last week on its Instagram — will give arts students 5–20 per cent discounts on items from participating businesses.
Students can sign up through a qualtrics survey where they will be asked to provide their name, email, phone number and student number.
Currently, there are twelve businesses who are part of the Purple Card Program, including Gold’s Gym, Teadot Boba, Staples, the Delly, F45 Oak and Broadway gym, the Corner Kitchen and Peko Produce. AUS VP External Joshua Kim encouraged students to provide their feedback.
“[Students are] more than welcome to … let us know what businesses they want to see be added to the program,” he said.
Kim said he was inspired by a similar program within the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS), called the Blue Card Program, and wanted to extend the same discount options to arts students.
Kim said, he has been working on this project since May — which included consultations with those who have used SUS's Blue Card Program.
According to Kim, the Purple Card Program will benefit both students and the partnered businesses —who agreed to provide discounts in exchange for promotions from the AUS on its social media and website.
When asked about student privacy, Kim said the data collected from the sign-up survey is stored securely within the survey platform, and is only accessible to a few AUS members.
The current budget only supports 10,000 cards initially, according to Kim.
“I’m pretty happy with [the businesses offered],” said third-year arts student Cynara Onyemordi, “I think it would be really convenient.”
Onyemordi is looking forward to more restaurants on campus being included in the program, which is a goal for Kim as well. “It’s still a work in progress,” Kim said.