Hypothetical Implementation of "Illinibucks"

Implementing “Illinibucks” to allow students at the University of Illinois to cut lines with regards to registration and other services around campus, would make drastic changes to the way these services are provided. Having been a part of the Division of General Studies for two years at the University, I would allocate a majority, if not all, of my Illinibucks towards registration. Being in the DGS, I was always one of the last people to register and that led to having very eschewed schedules and undesired professors/classes. Through this hypothetical system I may have been able to move up the registration list. However, I feel that most students would prioritize there bucks for registration because it has such a large effect on your time spent in college. If there happened to be a tie in use of bucks, would it then differ to your year in school? If this is the case then we would essentially be back to the priority basis that we use for registering now. 

Due to a very high demand for early registration, I could see the University setting the price for this service relatively high to deter some students. For the deterred or less studious students, these bucks could be used to cut lines at concerts, sporting events, and maybe even registering campus facilities. The prices for these would be less to raise the demand. If the University could not lower the demand for early registration by raising its price, they could set a maximum amount of bucks allowed to be spent for this service. This would be similar to a government intervention in a real market. I would also wonder if the University would allocate the same amount of bucks to each student or would they allow students to purchase additional bucks. If this were the case, then the University would be giving an advantage to students who could afford this luxury. It would also affect the money supply and alter supply/demand. 

 

 Aside from that, would students have the bucks tied to their university account, or would they be allowed to trade bucks to other students? This would create another miniature economy where students spend bucks not for campus services, but for services from other students. Clearly, this could create legal issues for the University, but it would be interesting to analyze this situation if it came to fruition. For students who really wanted to register early, they could pay other students for their Illinibucks or do work for them. Due to the low supply of Illinibucks, they would raise in extrinsic value to the point that they could be seen as more valuable than real currency. 

The implementation of Illinibucks would be a very interesting experiment. It would illustrate many economic models as well as show how the students prioritize the services that the University provides.