James Sears, Staff Writer
Kennesaw State University’s Culinary and Hospitality Services has made some changes to student’s meal plans this year including Dining Dollars and expanded meal plan availability.
KSU Dining Dollars have now been implemented as part of student’s meal plan.
“This will ensure that students are able to utilize their meals in The Commons while also enjoying the freedom to use the Dining Dollars portion of their meal plans at each of our seven on-campus eateries,” said Robert Nolen, Associate Director of Culinary & Hospitality Services.
Despite the expansion of meal plans to more eateries and the incorporation of Dining Dollars to meal plans, the issue of meal plan “swipes,” that is, the amount of times students can eat at an eatery, not carrying over into the next semester still lingers.
“If the swipes that you pay for [are not used], they should … carry over and be added to the next amount of swipes … for that semester,” said Junior accounting major Douglas Bohn.
However, some students think the merging of Dining Dollars and swipes are convenient.
“I like how you get a plan that automatically comes with Dining Dollars and swipes,” said senior Exercise Science major, Alison King.
Senior international business major Emma Ford said she likes having Dining Dollars now because the Delancey NY Deli in the Student Center no longer accepts swipes.
When asked about the possibility of swipes carrying over into the next semester, Nolen said what is left of a student’s fall semester dining dollars can be used during the spring semester. He said however, swipes will not carry over because the meal plans are necessary for funding the Commons.
“The meal plan requirement also serves to fund the construction and operation of the dining hall, which is financed in a very similar fashion to a 30-year mortgage on a house,” Nolen said. “As the meal plans are designed to be utilized within one semester…any unused meals remaining will not roll forward to future semesters. That said, unused dining dollars from the fall semester will roll forward through the end of the following spring semester.”
In May 2014, Culinary and Hospitality Services expanded the meal plan to more eating places on campus, which previously only included The Commons, Delancey NY Deli and The Hoot. Since the expansion, the meal plan now applies to eight locations including Hissho Sushi, Burrito Bowl, Freshëns, Starbucks and Jazzman’s Café.
“Culinary and Hospitality Services has received quite a bit of positive feedback regarding the expansion of meal plan availability to all these venues,” Nolen said. “[We look] forward to providing our students similar service with a combination of both meals and Dining Dollars in years to come.”
Along with additional Dining Dollars and new eateries, students will need to purchase soft drink refills.
Students were accustomed to free refills in the Student Center, but this semester the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine now charges them for a second filling. Nolen said refills were never free.
“Free refills were never available in the Student Center; but in the past, we found that many customers were simply refilling their cups and bypassing the cashier without paying,” Nolen said.
Nolen said the new refill system allowed the reduction of refill prices from last year’s price of $0.99 to $0.70 per refill. The Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, which were previously located near each eatery in the Student Center, has been moved closer to food court seating. Nolen also said the new system reduces waste by having students pre-purchase refills and use only one cup instead of purchasing multiple cups for multiple refills.
“The addition of new technology in the freestyle machines helps fulfill our commitment to sustainability through the reduction of waste,” Nolen said.
