Tech Athletics and SGA Team Up to Put New Student Discount Card in Every Pocket

RUSTON | Louisiana Tech students already carry one card that gets them into every home game for free. Starting this fall, that same card does something else: it saves them money all over Ruston.

Louisiana Tech Athletics has partnered with the Student Government Association to launch a new discount program, giving every registered student access to deals from local businesses around town — no new app, no new card to remember, no cost.

The same Paciolan digital access pass students already use to walk into all of Louisiana Tech's ticketed athletic venues for free now doubles as their discount card. For students who'd rather carry something physical, 5,000 printed cards are also available.

It's a simple idea built on a simple truth: the best partnerships don't ask people to do more. They make the thing people already do work harder for them.

Where the idea came from

The program didn't start in an athletics meeting — it started at a conference in Orlando. Shelby Blalock, then serving as SGA Treasurer, attended the American Student Government Association Convention with fellow SGA leadership, where a session on "signature programs" — initiatives built to leave a lasting mark on a student body — introduced the idea of a student discount card. Blalock brought it home and put together a committee of senators to build it from scratch: compiling existing student discounts around Ruston, then reaching out to local restaurants and businesses to bring more on board.

The original plan was 12,000 physical cards. But the committee quickly saw the problem — the cost, the risk of a card getting lost in a backpack, the logistics of getting a physical card into every student's hand. Around the same time, they'd watched Blue Bloods roll out its own virtual membership card for game-day scanning, and reached out to contacts in the athletic department to explore something similar.

"Every student pays a student activities fee that supports SGA, and I wanted to make sure students could see a direct benefit from that investment," said Blalock. "College comes with real financial pressure, and giving students a way to save money on everyday purchases is one small way SGA can help them make smarter financial decisions. I'm incredibly proud of what it took to get this program from a workshop conversation in Orlando to something real at Louisiana Tech, and I'm excited to see how SGA and Athletics keep finding new ways to give back and serve our students."

Beginning in January 2026, the two groups met regularly to build the program — working through terms and conditions, coordinating with community partners, finalizing contracts, and shaping the look, feel, and display of the card itself. On the technology side, that meant bringing SGA into a platform Athletics had already built out for its own students.

"Paciolan is a platform we already trust to run everything from ticketing to Blue Bloods, so bringing SGA's discount program into it wasn't about building something new," said Wally Crittenden, Sr. Associate AD for Championship Resources and Chief Revenue Officer. "It was about teaching them how to use the tools we already had. Once they saw what the platform could do, the rest came together fast."

That same platform is also what made distribution simple. Every student already has a digital pass in their wallet — adding SGA's discount program meant one more layer on something that already existed, instead of one more thing for a student to go find.

"Every student already has the athletics digital pass in their wallet," said Bret Guice, Assistant AD for Fan Development and Revenue Generation. "Adding SGA to that platform meant we didn't have to ask students to download anything new or go looking for another card — the discount program just showed up in something they already had. We not only were able to add value, but do it in a way that added no extra steps to the students."

One platform, one card, two organizations behind it.

That's the real story here — not the discounts, but the partnership behind them. Athletics and SGA are two of the largest platforms on this campus, each with direct lines to thousands of students. Instead of building two separate systems and asking students to choose between them, the two offices built one.

"This partnership is about reaching our students — all of them, not just the ones who show up to games," said Kyle Kavanaugh, Sr. Associate AD for External Affairs and Chief Brand Officer. "We know some students on this campus may never use their ticket to scan into a game. Our job is to meet them where they are. This card does that. It puts Athletics in a student's pocket even if they never plan to use it for a game, and it does it because SGA had the vision to build something that serves students first. That kind of leadership is what makes a partnership like this work, and we're proud to stand behind it with them."

For students who've never been to a game, this might be the first reason they ever open their digital ticket. And once it's in their wallet, Athletics has a new way to reach them — with Blue Bloods, with campus events, with everything else this department builds for the student body.

"This is what it looks like when two campus partners pull in the same direction," said Vice President and Director of Athletics, Ryan Ivey. "SGA built something students needed, and we're proud they trusted us to help carry it. But this program doesn't work without Ruston. The businesses that said yes to this on day one are the same ones who show up for our student body every single day, and their support — along with the City of Ruston's — is a huge part of what makes Louisiana Tech Athletics what it is. We don't take that for granted."

Beyond the discounts themselves, the partnership gives Athletics something it's never had before: a window into how students move around campus and the community — where they go, what they use, how they engage — data that can help the department build smarter events, better serve students where they already are, and grow Blue Bloods with real insight instead of guesswork.

Twelve local businesses are on board at launch

• Chicken Salad Chick — 10% off — 1301 Maxwell Blvd
• Common Goods — 10% off — 301 N Monroe St
• Counter Culture Frozen Yogurt — 10% off — 732 Celebrity Dr
• Johnny's Pizza House — 10% off — 1109 Cooktown Rd
• LaBamba Authentic Mexican Restaurant — 15% off — 207 North Service Rd E
• Pack & Mail — 10% off — 203 North Service Rd E
• PJ's Coffee of New Orleans — 20% off drinks — 1736 Farmerville Hwy
• Reauxlin Smoke Bar-B-Que — 10% off — 1420 Cooktown Rd
• Roma Italian Bistro — 20% off — 102 N Monroe St
• Sundown Tavern — 10% off — 111 East Park Avenue
• Uptown Downtown Cakery, Bakery & Eatery — 10% off — 94 S Vienna St
• Utility Brewing Co. — 10% off — 206 N Vienna St

Twelve local businesses said yes to this on day one. That's not a coincidence — it's what happens when a town and a university actually show up for each other.
It's a small card. It's a big door.

Card valid 9/1/2026–8/31/2027, continuous usage. Physical and digital cards carry identical terms. Discounts are valid for in-person orders only and exclude all alcoholic beverages. Offers may not be combined with any other promotions, discounts, or offers, and are not valid for catering orders or catering services. Participating businesses and management reserve the right to terminate this promotion at any time without prior notice. Additional restrictions may apply.

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