Following PNC Bank’s official partnership with NC State, announced in 2017, the bank plans on expanding its reach into Talley Student Union in fall 2018. During renovations to the Wolfpack One Card office space to make room for the new PNC Bank branch, the Wolfpack One Card office has been temporarily relocated to the lower level of the NC State Bookstores.
Talley Student Union information desk employee Keir Witherspoon, a second-year studying neurobiology, explained that the construction has been going on for a while and that the new bank is expected to open in early June.
“This has been going on for about a month, and it will take a couple of months, but it will definitely be done by next semester, and probably June,” Witherspoon said.
Witherspoon says that the change and construction has been an inconvenience.
“We’ve had to move everything around into different storage rooms and closets, so I’ll have to leave the desk to put things away,” Witherspoon said. “It isn’t the same as the cute, glass office. I definitely think it is way more useful to have the Wolfpack OneCard office on the main floor of the lobby right next to the information desk. People come to the desk asking about the OneCard office all the time, I’m not sure why they would move it into the basement. I know it is in the bookstore, but the bookstore often has unusual hours.”
During the temporary relocation, the Wolfpack One Card office will maintain its normal hours, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Witherspoon explained her opinion on the temporary relocation of the former Wolfpack OneCard office and the addition of the bank space.
“I don’t really like the change,” Witherspoon said. “I prefer the OneCard office being here. It’s the first place new students are told to go, what better place than the lobby of the student union. [That space] will be an actual bank office. A lot of people have been coming up and asking where OneCard went.”
Kevin Mahon, a first-year studying human biology, says he visits Talley roughly once a day. When asked about the PNC Bank addition, he echoed the same concern as Witherspoon about the location change of the OneCard office.
“Personally, I don’t think I will use that really at all, I will probably still walk to Wells Fargo,” Mahon said. “I knew we were partnered with them … but I’m not sure that this is necessary. I think it would be better for students for the OneCard office to be in [there] instead of a bank because every student has an ID card but only some belong to the PNC Bank.”
With this new change to the layout and spaces within Talley, Witherspoon says that she does not expect the bank to hire many students and does not expect any major changes in the amount of people coming in and out of the student union.
“I don’t think that the foot traffic will change a whole lot, especially because not a lot of people go into the Wolfpack OneCard office at one time,” Witherspoon said. “It’s usually a few people here and there, although a lot of people use it throughout the day. Foot traffic will probably be the same, but we’ll probably have a lot of people coming in and asking about the offices.”
*Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include the Wolfpack One Card office’s hours of operation during relocation and more accurate information about the scope of the renovations.
