Dates: November 14–16, 2025
Location: Rutgers University–Newark
Hosted by: ColorStack × Fiserv Innovation Hub × CoreWeave

HackFest 2025 challenges you to design and build a Smart Campus Wallet – a digital experience that helps students manage campus payments, budgets, and daily life in one place.

Your Smart Campus Wallet might help students:

• See and understand their spending on and around campus
• Track and manage meal plans, dining dollars, and campus card balances
• Pay for events, clubs, and campus services from a single interface
• Earn rewards or incentives for positive habits
• Connect financial decisions to campus life (events, resources, wellbeing)

You are encouraged, but not required, to use the sample data provided in the data/ folder.

AI integration is optional, but encouraged when it clearly improves the experience (for example, by summarizing spending, recommending actions, or answering student questions).

Your Smart Campus Wallet can focus on one or more of these areas:

Show students how they spend across categories like dining, books, transportation, and entertainment. Use charts, summaries, or simple tables so they can quickly understand their habits.

Help students set basic budgets and see when they are close to or over their targets. This could be simple (a weekly dining limit) or more advanced (separate budgets for categories).

Create a central place to simulate paying for events, clubs, dining, printing, or other services. You do not need real payment integrations – mock flows and sample data are enough.

Design a simple rewards layer that gives points, streaks, or perks for certain spending or attendance patterns (for example, attending academic events, staying under a dining budget).

Simulate how a campus wallet might tie together student identity, event check-ins, or gym visits. For example, a “My Activity” view that combines events attended and spending.

Use AI to summarize spending, suggest smarter decisions, recommend events, or answer questions about balances, budgets, or campus opportunities.

A focused, well-executed idea is better than a broad but incomplete one.

AI is not required to participate, but it can be a strong differentiator when used thoughtfully.

Examples of useful AI integrations:

• “Explain my spending this week in a few bullet points.”
• “Recommend three ways I can save money next month based on my history.”
• “What events or resources on campus might help me based on my interests and spending?”
• “Summarize my last 30 days in one paragraph I can send to a mentor or advisor.”

You may call AI APIs such as OpenAI, Cohere, or Hugging Face if you wish.
Teams should bring and manage their own API keys and keep them out of public repositories (for example, by using environment variables).

The data/ folder contains sample CSV files that teams can use if they want to work with realistic data:

• users_sample.csv
  Synthetic student profiles: user identifiers, majors, class years, residence type, and interests.

• wallet_transactions_sample.csv
  Synthetic transaction history for those users: merchant, category, amount, payment method, location, and date.

• campus_events_sample.csv
  Sample campus events: event names, categories, locations, start times, tags, and costs.

These files are optional. You may ignore them, extend them, or replace them with your own data as long as your project remains aligned with the Smart Campus Wallet theme.

Each team should provide:

1. A demo-ready prototype of a Smart Campus Wallet (web, mobile, or other interface).
2. A short description of the problem you are solving and who your primary user is.
3. A brief explanation of how your solution fits the Smart Campus Wallet theme.
4. If you use AI: a short description of where and why you integrated it.

The exact submission format (links, repositories, and any required forms) will be shared by the organizers during the event.

• Teams may have up to 5 students.
• You may use any programming languages, frameworks, or tools.
• You may reuse open-source libraries, templates, and starter kits as long as you clearly indicate what you built during the hackathon.
• All participants are expected to follow the event code of conduct and campus policies.

All eligible projects will be evaluated across the following dimensions:

• Does the project clearly function as a Smart Campus Wallet or a meaningful component of one?
• Does it address financial, payment, or campus-life aspects in a relevant way?

• Does the solution solve a real problem or pain point for students?
• Would this meaningfully improve daily student life, decision-making, or financial awareness?

• Does the prototype work as demonstrated?
• Are core features implemented or convincingly simulated?
• Is the technical approach coherent and appropriate for a hackathon?

• Is the interface intuitive, clear, and easy to navigate?
• Would a typical student quickly understand how to use it?
• Is the experience cohesive and thoughtfully designed?

• Does the solution introduce a novel or imaginative idea?
• Does it apply creative design, product thinking, or technical approaches?

• If AI is used, does it genuinely enhance the experience?
• If FinTech elements are included, are they applied thoughtfully and clearly connected to the user problem?

The top projects will advance to a final judging round.

In this round, judges will also consider:

• Clarity, organization, and completeness of the explanation.

• How effectively the team communicates the student journey and value.

• How convincingly the team demonstrates the prototype in real time.

Final rankings will reflect both the strength of the project and the quality of the final presentation.

• You are not required to build production-ready payment integrations. Simulations, mock data, and clear interfaces are acceptable and expected.
• Focus on delivering a coherent, useful experience that feels like a real Smart Campus Wallet a student would actually want to use.
• Use the mentors and organizers throughout the weekend to get feedback on ideas, scope, and feasibility.

Build something that helps students understand and control their financial life on campus – and have fun doing it.