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Bear Bucks for Students

Enrolling in Bear Bucks

Opening a Bear Bucks account is free of charge and no minimum balance must be maintained to keep the account open. Your account will remain open as long as you as a student, faculty, or staff member of Washington University in St. Louis. See the Terms of Service for more information.

Go to WebStac

  • Under Bear Bucks & Billing
  • Select Enroll in Bear Bucks, if you only see “Bear Bucks,” then you have already enrolled in the program.
  • You’ll be prompted to select Enroll twice

Once you complete the above steps, it will take up to 24 hours for your account to be officially opened within the University system. Thank you for your patience.

Adding Bear Bucks

Students may add Bear Bucks through signing into their WUSTL key on the GET Portal.

The portal is also accessible through WebStac by going to Bear Bucks & Billing > Bear Bucks. Bear Bucks, once loaded onto an account, are completely non-transferable and non-refundable.

Bear Bucks are a 1-to-1 exchange for US dollars. Fees may apply if you are loading funds from a credit card. To avoid any extra fee, bill your Student Account.

You can use unlimited funds during your time of affiliation with WashU, either as a student, faculty/staff member, or contractor. Although, your account can only hold $2,000 at once.

Payment Methods

Students may bill their Student Account or Tuition Statement by selecting the “Bill Me option.” A maximum of $1,000 can be billed per student per semester.

Adding funds by Credit/Debit card on GET is subject to a $0.25 transaction fee. To avoid this transaction fee, you can add money in-person at the Campus Card Services offices.

Students can add funds by cash deposit in-person at the Campus Card Services office.

Why enroll in Bear Bucks?

While enrolling in Bear Bucks is 100% optional, most students enroll for an account.

  • Bear Bucks(same for Meal Points) are tax-free for on-campus dining purchases, saving you about 9% each transaction.
  • Once you exceed your Dining Services Meal Plan, on-campus dining locations will automatically charge your Bear Bucks account instead.
  • If you exceed your printing balance, Bear Bucks will be charged instead.
  • Bear Bucks can help you and your parent budget your spending while at WashU.
  • Bear Bucks give you an outlet to support local businesses and partnerships with the WashU community.

When my WashU ID Card is swiped…what is it paying with?

Your WashU ID Card contains 3 spending accounts attached to your record with WashU ID card’s A swipe side.

Meal Points are loaded onto your card at the start of each semester by Dining Services, associated with your purchased Meal Plan. Every student either has a Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum meal plan. You cannot independently add points by billing your student account nor by credit/debit card. Gifting points to another student is possible with limits. See Dining Services for more details. Meal Points can ONLY be spent at WashU Dining Services Locations which do NOT include Bauer Cafe, Bauer Starbucks, Medical School dining locations, and any off-campus businesses.

Printing Credit are loaded onto your card at the start of each semester by your academic division. Please contact your school for more details. Printing credit can only be used for printing on-campus, and is non-refundable and non-transferable.

Bear Bucks is your final spending account, the fallback for when you’ve exceed Meal Points and/or your printing credit. You may add to your Bear Bucks balance at any time by billing your student account, credit/debit card, or making a cash deposit in-person. See the above section on adding funds for more details. Bear Bucks can only be spent at locations that accept it like WashU Dining establishments, certain on-campus vending machines, and both on and off-campus Bear Bucks merchants.