Nov. 9, 2015
April Wefler
[email protected]
A new license plate has been created for students and alumni who want to show their Mountain Lion pride on the roads.
The plate can be purchased at the Department of Motor Vehicles, for a onetime fee of $50. All proceeds from the license plates go to the DMV.
“I think for alumni in particular, it’s fun for them to see the plate out on the road and reminisce about their time on campus,” said Jennifer Hane, director of alumni relations and the annual fund for University Advancement.
She said the plate is purchased at the DMV and mailed to the student or alumni a few weeks later.
“All of the other universities in Colorado – maybe not all, but the large majority – have very successful license plate programs that their alumni and students love and really rally around,” Hane said.
“We wanted to have an opportunity to create that similar kind of school spirit and pride at UCCS,” she said.
Elizabeth Grimme, junior communication major, said she wouldn’t purchase the license plate.
“$50 is a little steep for someone who goes to school full-time and works two jobs. If it was 20 or 30 bucks, I’d probably buy one, but $50 is a little steep.”
Alumna Mikaela Resende said she would purchase a license plate for $50.
“That’s not bad. I saw it, I didn’t know how expensive it was. I thought it was going to be terrible.”
Hane said they created the first UCCS license plate in 2008, which had the old UCCS logo and mountains. The new license plate is the second one the school has created.
“Since the first one had the old logo, we knew that we wanted to change it, actually, even before we got our new logo a few years ago,” Hane said.
“Many of our alumni and students said, ‘you know, the old plate kind of looks like a taxi plate,’ which it actually does. I saw a taxi plate and thought, ‘that is our plate,’” she said.
Hane said alumni and students wanted the Mountain Lion face on the license plate.
“Our athletic programs have grown and we’ve had so many successful years, like with basketball, I think that there’s a lot of interest for people to show that support,” Hane said.
In compliance with the request, the new license plate has a gold sky and the Mountain Lion athletic face between the numbers and letters.
The redesign cost $200, which came from the Alumni Relations budget.
Hane said the license plate acts as a great marketing tool.
“I’m sure you constantly see Colorado College plates and Boulder plates and things like that out there,” she said.
Hane said CU-Boulder usually sells over 200 plates a month.
“(That’s) just crazy to me. But I think it’s a fun way for students and alumni and faculty and staff to really show their Mountain Lion pride wherever they go,” she said.
“I do think as graduation approaches for people, they really start to think about the time that they had on campus and some of the experiences that they’ve had here that will really continue to shape the rest of their lives. So I think it will probably be most popular with seniors and with our
alumni,” she said.
Those who would like to purchase the license plate have to print an exemption form, different from when people had to present a certificate from the alumni office to get a license plate.
“We recommend that people take our exemption letter with them when they purchase a plate so that they do not have to make two trips,” Hane said.
Students can find the exemption form and more information about the UCCS license plate at http://www.uccs.edu/alumni/tools/lpp.html.