Students on campus had the opportunity to save money on school supplies this year, courtesy of the Illinois Student Senate’s iRent program, which provides up to 400 students with free i>clickers.

For three consecutive days, starting on Aug. 26, student senators stood outside the Union in a booth promoting and distributing i>clickers. Students were only required to fill out a sheet with their contact information before they were given an i>clicker.

After the Illinois Student Senate’s first installment of the iRent program last winter, the senate looked to further expand the program. At the May 1 ISS meeting, Shao Guo, senator and junior in ACES, said that during the singular iRent distribution day last winter, more than 90 percent of the senate’s 200 i>clickers were given away to students. Members then passed a resolution that would allow the senate to purchase an additional 200 i>clickers for fall distribution.

Mariela Rodriguez, freshman in DGS, was one of the hundreds of students who was grateful to receive an i>clicker at no cost.

“It helps students to save money because tuition and going here can cost a lot,” Rodriguez said.

The senate distributed approximately 350 to 400 i>clickers to students over the span of the three days of distribution, said Rachel Heller, senator and iRent coordinator.

Heller, a junior in LAS, said she believes that this second installment of distributing free i>clickers was successful, yet she said there is still room for improvement.

“It went really well and we sold out on the first hour of the last day,” Heller said. “I am hoping by next semester we’ll have an electronic system where students can swipe their i-card, and then it can automatically go into a database for us so we don’t have to manually enter everything.”

In addition to an electronic system, ISS will work on a more effective system for returning the i>clickers due to students still returning from last semester.

Heller also plans to work on developing a system for freshmen to renew their i>clickers to use in the following year.

“Senator Rachel Heller has done an amazing job jumpstarting this all,” Vice President-External Timmy Knudsen said. “It’s a growing program so … it’s good that we see (the kinks) and we recognize them and we’ll fix them. If all the kinks get worked out, the sky is the limit.”

Liz can be reached at [email protected].