Two elementary schools in West Virginia are experimenting with a pilot program that aims to help ensure the students' safety, according to a published report.

This school year will see students at Wiliamstown Elementary School and Mineral Wells Elementary School wearing identification badges, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel reports. The students who will be partaking in the program are in kindergarten, first grade and second grade.

The students only will be allowed to leave with guardians who wear badges that match the ones worn by the children, transportation director Richard Lance told the news source, noting another nearby county implemented the program.

"Kanawha County has had this in place for a couple of years, and they've done it as a voluntary program," Lance told the news source late last week. "We'd like to see the same done here and have it be mandatory."

All families have been given four of the badges. The child holds one badge while the guardians are given three badges for when they pick up the child.

Efforts to pick up the child by someone who does not have a badge will result in the child being taken back to school.

He said that the plan should be in place by the middle of this week.

"By Wednesday, we are going to start enforcing this," Lance told the news source.

Students who lose or forget their badges will be issued a temporary one.

More than 500 students are partaking in the pilot program this year. Lance said its success will prompt the expansion to each of the 19 public elementary schools in Wood County.

Wood County public schools have scholarship programs for academics and athletics, booster organizations, a parent-teachers' association and additional programs to strengthen the county's academic offerings, according to the county schools' website.

Northeast Mississippi Community College is enforcing a new policy as students begin to make their way back to campus to usher in a new school year. The college now requires students to wear their student ID cards at all times, according to a report by local TV station WTVA.

The primary reason for the new policy is to ensure the campus environment is safe, as authorities will be able to immediately identify which individuals walking around are students. Individuals neglecting to follow the procedure will be warned but will eventually be issued a $25 ticket after receiving several notices, the news source reported.

"I understand where they're coming from, the safety aspect of it, but I think they might be pushing it out of proportion a little," student Kurt Volking told WTVA. "The cost of the fine is a little too much, I believe."

NMCC administrators said the policy is meant to be proactive in an effort to deter crime in the future, instead of being reactive to any particular incident, the news provider reported. Still, the new protocol doesn't sit well with many students, partly because of the fashion faux pas associated with wearing an ID badge on a lanyard and partly because of the fine.

"College students, they have to pay a lot more," student Davorius James told WTVA. "To add this fine to it makes a whole other problem."

Other schools are taking similar initiatives. Barton County Community College in Kansas, for example, enforces a rule that states students must show authorities their ID cards when prompted. Although many people may find these policies inconvenient, they are, for the most part, meant to provide individuals with a safer learning environment.

Florida State University recently changed its sporting event ticket policy. In the past, students were required to purchase their tickets online and print them out, bringing the physical copies to games. Since this would often be inconvenient for all parties involved, especially when the tickets were lost, the university decided to completely change the process, according to a report by FSU News.

The new policy will still digitally send purchased tickets to student ID cards, making the procedure more efficient and convenient for both students and game-day officials. Now individuals will be required to bring their FSU ID card to games, where the accessory will be swiped as if it were a ticket, the news source said. Only student ID badges will suffice, no other form of ID will be accepted.

"[We] wanted to make the process as easy as possible," Ben Zierden, assistant athletics director of ticket sales and operations at FSU said, according to FSU News. "By having the ticket delivered directly to the students' FSU ID it makes it easier for students to simply show up at the game and have their card swiped for entry rather than picking up or printing out a physical ticket."

This is especially important for management, as the school boasts its Doak Campbell Stadium can seat more than 83,000 people for football games.

The new ticketing process has been in development for several years and takes multiple elements into account when determining which students are able to get tickets. This is primarily done through a newly established loyalty program, which factors in seniority, credit standing and overall attendance to FSU sporting events other than football, FSU News said. The results will prioritize which individuals are granted better seating to more popular games during the season.

"This is a process that is definitely easier for the student," Zierden said, according to the news provider. "It requires a little more work for our office on the operational side of things but that is why we are here."

The new ID card program will go into effect during FSU's opener against Murray State on September 1 and is aimed to reward hard-working and active students with the best seats during football games.

Students in Nebraska who want to demonstrate school spirit and pride while throwing their weight behind the football team must bring their student ID cards to games, according to a published report.

The University of Nebraska at Lincoln has opted to have its athletic office endow the student identification cards with the tickets for the students to gain entry, The Omaha World-Herald reports. The student IDs are known as N cards.

Some reasons behind the adjustment at the school include minimizing printing and reducing expenses and costs for staff, ticket office associate Angie Christ-Zemunski told the news source. The office no longer will need to hire temporary staff members who distribute the student tickets. Staff members with the office also will be free to take on other tasks.

"We are trying to stay up with the times," Christ-Zemunski told the news source, noting the office she serves opted to effect the adjustment after exploring how other universities' offices conduct their business.

Football fans might need some time to become accustomed to the change but Christ-Zemunski said she is confident they will succeed.

She also noted that the new system will prove to be beneficial to students who will have one less topic to be concerned about when the football team is playing since they typically always have their N card on them.

"It will limit waiting in line, validating and the possibility of loss," Christ-Zemunski told the news source.

But one catch is students no longer will be able to cherish the ticket stubs from the games they attended.

President Eric Kamler of the school's student government told the news source that he still holds the stub from the first game he attended.

The football team opens this season with a home game against Southern Miss on Saturday, September 1, according to the team's website.