The new meal plan provides students with unlimited access to Valentine Dining Hall during lunch and dinner (14 meals per week) and with $100 in "bonus bucks" on their ID card. The full meal plan, offering 21 meals per week, will remain the default option.
Only 228 students selected the new meal plan option for next semester, which Director of Dining Services Charlie Thompson sees as a sign of the 21-meal plan's adequacy. "This shows that the majority of people are happy with the full meal plan," he said.
"I eat breakfast, and [this option] doesn't seem to offer much in the way of rewards," said Dave Reckess '02, who chose not to switch to the new meal plan.
"I don't go for breakfast and I would rather eat a meal late at night than waste a meal on a couple hardboiled eggs and a bowl of cereal," said Michael Miles '04, who opted for the 14-meal plan.
The College decided to add the second meal plan option late last semester after consulting with the Committee on Priorities and Resources and leaders from the Student Government Organization. The change is part of a long-term effort by Dining Services to re-evaluate its policies.
"We're continually trying to assess our services. We want to keep our programming fresh," Thompson said. "We think the program that's currently here is a great program, but we wanted to give students more options."
The most salient feature of the new meal plan option is the inclusion of bonus bucks. Like AC DOLLAR$, these will be accessible through the student's ID card and can be used as cash for food purchases at Valentine, Schwemm's Coffee House, the Underground Bakery and in vending machines equipped with card readers. Unlike AC DOLLAR$, however, bonus bucks cannot be used for laundry.
The decision to provide $100 worth of bonus bucks came after a search of the policies of other colleges with similar meal options. Thompson found that equivalent policies ranged from as low as $25 to as high as hundreds of dollars per semester. "We thought $100 per semester was a fair place to start," he said. "If we see any need ... for tweaking here and there, we'll do that."
The new meal option is only available to upperclassmen; there are no plans to extend it to freshmen, according to Thompson. Most schools with similar programs, he explained, restrict reduced-meals options to upperclassmen.
"Until the student gets a semester or two under their belt ... it's better to give them a year on the full meal plan until they get acclimated to [college]," Thompson said.
Because the second meal plan option is still in a trial stage, its continuation depends on student interest. However, Thompson pointed out that Dining Services has not predetermined a level of use below which the option will be discontinued. "We're hoping it's here to stay," Thompson said.
The College's only previous experience with a reduced meal option was a 14-meal plan for students living off campus instituted in the early 1990s. Dining Services later discontinued the plan because of lack of interest.
Thompson said that he does not anticipate that the existence of bonus bucks will significantly increase the volume of business at Schwemm's.
Though he was initially concerned that he was "robbing Peter to pay Paul"-solving a problem at Valentine by creating another at Schwemm's-he is convinced that this is unlikely. Thompson suggested instead that students who use Schwemm's will simply use their bonus bucks first, rather than increase the amount they purchase.
There are no current plans to add any other meal plan options. "We really want to see how this goes," Thompson said.