The plan allows unlimited access to the dining hall for lunch and dinner every day and includes $100 of "bonus bucks" per semsester. These can be used as cash in Valentine, Schwemm's Coffee House, The Underground Bakery, catering, and campus vending machines. This optional plan is only available to upperclassmen.
On average, 250 to 300 students per semester have signed up for this plan since its inception. The deadline for signing up was previously the same as the last day of "add-drop" period, although this year it was extended until the Tuesday after add-drop.
According to Director of Dining Services Charles Thompson, the plan has worked well. "We never expected a huge number of students to sign up in the first place. We just hoped that this plan would give students more options." He said that students have seemed content with the plan and that the Office of Dining Services has received positive feedback.
One of the concerns surrounding the plan was whether the $100 in bonus bucks would be fair compensation. "This was what we thought we could afford at the time," said Thompson.
According to Thompson, the Office of Dining Services has paid close attention to how much money in bonus bucks students need. "We have been observing and keeping track of each meal plan. In summary, some students will use up the money, but the majority would have some left over," he said. Left over bonus bucks cannot be carried over from one semester to the next.
Students have varying opinions regarding Valentine meal plans. "I love our meal plans. . . The unlimited access is so great," said Katherine Goodrich '06. "It's much better than a point system," said Anders Meyer '05.
Others would prefer the option of a meal plan with fewer meals. "I think the school should charge money per meal, so if we don't go, we pay less." said Irina Ivanova '06.
However, Valentine is not considering other optional meal plans. "We are still assessing the lunch-dinner plan now because it is so new. But I don't think a plan of money per meal or fewer meals would be possible, mainly because of the way the budget is set. There is no direct relationship between the operation costs and the fee that the students are charged," said Thompson. "But the door is always open and nothing is out of the question."
The meal prices at Valentine are $4.60 for breakfast, $6.20 for lunch and $7.20 for dinner. However, a small number of students who living in cooperative housing or off-campus are not on the meal plan. These students can pay per meal in Valentine using AC dollars at discounted prices, said Dining Services and Student Programs Manager Deborah Omasta-Mokrzecki: $3 for breakfast, $4 for lunch and $5 for dinner.
These specific prices were not chosen to reflect costs and would not be possible if all students were permitted to pay them per meal instead of paying for a meal plan as part of their tuition, according to Thompson.
If students did pay those discounted prices for twenty meals a week every day of both semesters and interterm, the total cost would be $614 less than the cost of purchasing the $1,650 per-term College meal plan for that same year. However, the total cost of purchasing all meals for the same length of time with non-discounted prices would be $455 more than the cost of the meal plan.