OneCard FAQs

You do not need to return your OneCard/ Gator Pass after you graduate. While you may have access to our OneCard amenities on campus, your transit discounts will be deactivated. Discounts will cease when you are no longer a student, but you can still use it as a regular Clipper card.

Students are encouraged to register their cards with Clipper by visiting www.clippercard.com. Registering your card protects your balance should you lose your card and need to replace it. It also lets you access your transaction history, set up automated loading of additional funds and choose to receive important Clipper updates.

Yes. When riding any of our transit partners, you must tap your Clipper card/Gator Pass on a transponder when entering a station or boarding a vehicle. Failure to do so is a failure to pay and may result in a fine. Find the Clipper card reader on the bus or at fare gates in stations or ferry terminals. Hold your card flat against the reader until you hear a beep and see a green light, or the fare gate displays “OK."

Have you paid your tuition plus state and local fees?

Your transit discount/pass activation will be sent to Clipper when you pay your Gator Pass fee. After Clipper receives this activation it can take approximately one week for the various transit lines to download your new Gator Pass.

Was your state and local fees paid or waived?

The OneCard/Gator Pass transit discount is funded by a part of the state and local fees, therefore the fees must be paid and not waived in order for you to receive the transit discount.

Did you recently enter your Clipper card number to the Clipper portal?

Assuming you have paid your Gator Pass fee, your transit discount/pass activation will be sent to Clipper when the new clipper card number is entered.  After Clipper receives this activation it can take approximately one week for the various transit lines to download your new Gator Pass. 

Does your account have an Alert for “Gator Pass - No Action Required”?

If you paid your fees, your Holds & Alerts on your Student Center portal should say that you have a “Gator Pass - No Action Required” message. If it does not, you either have not paid your fees or your Financial Aid disbursement was withdrawn. Once you have paid your state and local fees the “Gator Pass - No Action Required” service indicator should appear on your Student Center account. As the indicator says, no action is required on your part, and it is not a hold. This indicator will not prevent you from registering for classes.

Have you used your card at the Muni fare gates or the M line?

We recommend that you use the fare gates such as the ones located at West Portal station to download the product onto your OneCard. Muni fare gates are online and are connected to the transportation database directly. Buses such as the 28 or the 57 take longer to receive information about your OneCard/Gator Pass than the train system. The M line is also more up to date than the buses, and we recommend trying to tag your card on the transponders inside the M line train to download your discount/pass on your OneCard. Once the pass downloads on your card it should work on any public transit that accepts Clipper card (except cable cars).

On the Muni transponder, it should read “TRAVEL OK PASS USED OK TO [END DATE]” (for the fall and spring semester). You can also register your OneCard and check your “View Recent Activity” report at www.clippercard.com.

No. High Value Discount (HVD) products do not work in conjunction with the Gator Pass for the duration of its activation time. Loading the HVD discount onto the same card used for the Gator Pass will replace the Gator Pass transit benefits, and the only way to reacquire the Gator Pass benefits is to set it up on a separate Clipper card.

No. Your OneCard/Gator Pass is not transferrable. If someone else uses your credential, it may be confiscated and you may be excluded from participating in the Gator Pass program. You may also be required to participate in the disciplinary process under Executive Order 1098, the University’s Student Code of Conduct procedures, which are available for review at the Office of Student Conduct. You may also face fines or other penalties for violating city or state codes or ordinances, such as the San Francisco Transportation Code, which, among other things, sets out fines for fare evasion or ineligible use of a transit pass.

The answer is dependent on when you withdraw. If you withdraw from the University before completing 60% of the semester, you will receive a prorated refund based on the University’s proration calendar. Thereafter, there will be no refund.

If you are not attending an official SFSU orientation, go to the Students page for instructions on how to obtain your OneCard. Please review the steps you need to take before coming to the OneCard office.

The Gator Pass fee is similar to other mandatory fees at the University: It is considered a cost of attendance and it is not a user fee. Its assessment is not dependent on any one student’s use of fee-subsidized services and programs, but rather it is assessed based on an understanding that the related service enriches student life and experience, helps the University provide additional services to students and generally creates an environment conducive to the University’s pursuit of its mission.

Gator Dollars and Clipper cash are two separate accounts on your OneCard. Gator Dollars are used for purposes like using copy machines and printers in the J. Paul Leonard Library, as currency in the bookstore and vending/food locations across campus, etc. On the other hand, Clipper Cash is a separate account to pay for your transit. You may register your Clipper card on the Clipper website to view your transit balance on your account. In addition, you can add funds online as well as deactivate the card in case it gets lost/stolen. You can also add Clipper Cash at Muni and BART fare machines in most stations.

Eligible Gator Dollar refunds are subject to a $20 administrative fee. Approved refunds will be paid by check through normal University procedures and may take up to four weeks to process.

Access the Gator Dollars Refund Request Form

Refund Restrictions:

• Gator Dollar balances prior to the consolidation of Gator Dollars and BayBuck$ into one campus debit account are not refundable
• Gator Dollar amounts deposited by campus departments and programs (such as Housing, Guardian Scholars, etc.) are non-refundable
• Guest cards are non-refundable

For your Gator Pass Clipper value, please contact Clipper at (877) 878-8883.

Yes.  Any faculty, staff or student may choose to identify themselves within the University community with a preferred name that is different from their legal name, as long as the use of this preferred name is not for the purposes of misrepresentation.

You can change your preferred name by selecting the names button under the personal information section in your Student Center account page.

In order to change your legal name, you will need to submit a name change form along with the required verification documents to the Registrar's Office. After submitting the form, you can visit the OneCard Office to make sure that the updated name is in effect.

The OneCard Office will not charge you for the new preferred name card as long as you have your previous card with you. Otherwise there will be an administrative fee of $20 and a new card fee of $2 that will apply ($22 total).