On-campus banking options are set to look different for students and staff next year, with changes in the LaFortune Student Center and ATMs around campus.
A branch of 1st Source Bank will replace the Notre Dame Federal Credit Union (NDFCU) branch currently housed in LaFortune. An announcement of the change was sent to all students and staff via email Thursday.
Sophomore Drew Carmona, the student government representative on the evaluation committee responsible for the decision, said the University chose 1st Source from an initial pool of 13 financial institutions.
“We put a lot of thought into what was best for the University and what was best for our students and staff,” Carmona said. “We selected 1st Source as the new campus branch bank partner because 1st Source has the ability to offer flexible solutions that best meet our unique needs.
“We wanted a financial institution that could meet the needs of the University’s cashiering services, as well as offer quality services and consumer banking.”
Carmona said, as the new partner bank, 1st Source will take over several duties formerly performed by NDFCU.
“1st Source is going to administer various functions, like student account payments, department deposits, event/start-up cash and cashing checks,” he said.
The transition likely will be completed over the summer, Carmona said. The new 1st Source branch will open July 1, and there will also be several 1st Source ATMs around campus.
Carmona said students are free to do their personal banking with any financial institution. He said the main office of NDFCU on Moreau Drive will remain open and there will still be several NDFCU ATMs around campus to serve those who have accounts with NDFCU.
“If anyone has an account with NDFCU, they can keep it. They can still bank with them,” Carmona said.
Carmona said the evaluation committee also reviewed results from a student-banking survey conducted in the fall and found most students do their banking with large, national banks. The University plans to add ATMs for some of these banks, in addition to the other campus banking changes.
“We’re looking into expanding our ATM offerings to fulfill the needs of as many students and employees as possible.” Carmona said. “We are reaching out to a few national banks to see if they would be willing to place an ATM on campus to service consumers who already have accounts with them, to help minimize bank fees — such as ATM withdrawal fees. That’s something very important to our students.”
The process behind these decisions began in October 2013 with the formation of the evaluation committee, led by Procurement Services and composed of representatives from Treasury Services, the Controller’s Office, Human Resources, the Student Activities Office and student government.
After establishing the committee, members sent a request for proposal to 13 banking institutions, Carmona said. The committee used the proposals to narrow the group down to a few finalists and heard a presentation from each of them in January.
