I looked up the history of bar codes:
“In 1978 less than one percent of grocery stores nationwide had scanners. By mid-1981 the figure was 10 percent; three years later it was 33 percent, and today more than 60 percent are so equipped.”
Yes, bar codes were around at the time, but they were not used for student ID cards.
Bar code expansion came into use for ancillary purposes such as inventory control, library book checkout, etc., around 1990 or so as the 1980 supermarket bar code readers were expensive and bulky.
Jack