After months of preparation, the long-awaited project to bring BUC$ to off-campus stores and restaurants is much closer to completion.

According to Mike Smyth, president of the Student Association, the off-campus system will be “up and running by the first day of spring classes.”

The Student Association has posted a survey on a Web site, sa.binghamton.edu/bucspoll, so that students can pick 20 out of 32 choices for off-campus venues that will carry BUC$. They will also have the opportunity to suggest another four businesses not on the list.

The marketing staff of Blackboard, which owns BUC$, will be coming on Nov. 28 to meet with Smyth and assess the results of the survey.

BUC$ can currently be used at vending machines on campus, and to pay for printing and photocopying in the library.

Among the businesses that students can vote for are Subway, Wegmans, Loews movie theaters, Staples and Campus Wings.

The project, which has been talked about and attempted by many past student government presidents, was delayed in its implementation this year because of its scale, according to Smyth

“President DeFleur had to give approval of this project before it could move on because it’s so large and blatantly affects the University,” Smyth said.

Both Sodexho, which provides food in the dining halls, and Blackboard, which owns BUC$, had to work out a contract before the plan could be implemented.

“The administration just seemed ready to move it along this year,” Smyth said. “A lot of ideas work well with time.”