The Terrier Card: your passport to dining, fun, and discounts

When you walk out of the Terrier Card Office in the George Sherman Union (GSU) with your card in hand, you look down at your smiling face and nine-character ID number, turn the card over, and see Rhett, BU’s Boston terrier mascot, snarling back at you. And you wonder: what can I do with this?

The answer is: plenty, at BU and beyond. With the Terrier Card, not only can you quell your hunger pangs by using dining points and convenience points; you can also gain free admission to many BU events and take advantage of a myriad of student discounts throughout Boston.

The Terrier Card: membership has its privileges. Dining points can win you meals at BU dining halls. And with convenience points you can enjoy the fine fare at the BU Pub, Starbucks and Bread Winners at SMG, Ferretti’s at Warren Towers, Health Blends at the Fitness and Recreation Center, concessions at Agganis Arena events, and snacks from BU vending machines and Campus Convenience stores throughout the year. In the fall and spring semesters, you can order pizza from Domino’s and eat at 575 Café and the Hillel dining room. Convenience points are valid year-round at Barnes & Noble, the GSU Information Center, University Computers, the SMG copy center, and the CFA computer lab. In addition, the card lets you take out books at Mugar Library, pay for your transcripts at the Registrar’s Office, and play pool and other games at BU Central.

Also at BU Central, a Terrier Card gains you free admission to more than 40 events the venue offers each year, from concerts to comedy acts. “Some of these performers are playing down the street at Paradise for $20 or more per ticket, but students can see them at BU Central for nothing,” says Jeffrey Murphy, assistant director of the Student Activities Office (SAO).

Terrier Card holders can also play golf for free—minigolf, that is—at the annual Putt Putt & Prizes event in September at Metcalf Hall, where the SAO sets up three nine-hole courses. Another benefit associated with the Terrier Card is the SAO’s Super Bowl party—one of the biggest in the city—complete with free food and prize giveaways.

Beyond campus, those wielding the Terrier Card can enjoy student discounts at movies at the AMC Fenway Theatres, a $5 admission to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and a $3 admission to the Mary Baker Eddy Library at the Christian Science Plaza. At the Museum of Fine Arts, a two-visit ticket costs college students $13 on Thursdays and Fridays after 5 p.m. At BU’s professional resident Huntington Theatre Company, student rush tickets for $14 are available starting two hours before every performance, subject to availability.

Student discounts are also offered at the Prudential Tower’s 50th-floor Skywalk observatory (you pay $7.50; the usual price is $10.50), along with such restaurants as La Familia Giorgio in Boston’s North End (save 20 percent) and All Asia Cafe in Cambridge’s Central Square (save 15 percent). To reach these venues, students can flash their Terrier Cards when they buy semester MBTA passes before each semester at Parking Services in the GSU. The T pass program offers students a four-month pass at an 11 percent discount.

The Terrier Card: don’t leave home without it.