The VolCard is the name for the university’s identification card. All faculty, staff, students, and retirees have VolCards, which allow checking out books from the UT Libraries, admission to various events and activities, and use of restricted facilities. The card also serves as a meal card for students in the meal plan program and can, with credit approval, be used as a university food services charge card. The university began conversion to an all-campus ID card in summer quarter 1988. Prior to the adoption of the all-campus card, there were separate cards for functions such as meals and student activities.
The paper Student Activities Card had to be validated each semester until a new system of electronic validation was made possible in 1995 with the implementation of the VolXpress Central Accounting System, and the Student Activities Card was then combined into the student identification card. Date of birth was added to the identification card in spring 1990 as a means of assisting sellers of alcohol to determine whether an individual was of legal drinking age.
In January 2005 UT began the process of assigning random identification numbers to students, rather than continuing to utilize the Social Security Number as the UT ID number. The freshman class of 2005 was the first to have the new random ID numbers. The VolCard Office was in the university center until the east wing of the third floor of the university center was transformed into offices for student organizations. The VolCard Office was then relocated to South Stadium Hall and included in plans for the new Student Union.