By now, you’ve probably seen some news about the changes to the campus dining plan that will be enacted next semester. Her Campus spoke with the director of Dining Services, Colleen Wright-Riva, about the new Anytime Dining 7-Day Base plan.
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There will be no such thing as dining points.
Dining points will be eliminated, and the diners will be all-you-can-eat once you swipe in, much like 251 North. “The great news with the new plan is that it ensures that residential students will never run out of points or go hungry,” Wright-Riva said. “Currently, students often run out of points when they need them the most. This change in our style of service eliminates any food insecurity issues a residential student may have experienced with our current plans.
2. Speaking of 251…
The buffet will be open six days a week for lunch and dinner, and will no longer have the one day per week restriction.
3. The number of guests you treat to dinner will be limited.
With the current a-la-carte plan, students can treat anyone to a meal. The new plan will “include guest passes for students to use when family or friends visit. The base plan includes two guest passes each semester and the larger plans have four, six and eight passes a semester, respectively,” explained Wright-Riva. So when Mom and Dad visit, they’ll be paying for themselves!
4. We still don’t know how Adele’s is going to work.
“As you might imagine with a change of this magnitude, we have many details yet to work through; Adele’s is one of them,” Wright-Riva said.
5. The new plan should be priced similarly to the current plan.
“The proposed Anytime Dining 7-Day Base plan will be priced comparably to our current Traditional Plan price,” Wright-Riva said. “However, our rates for fiscal 16/17 have not been approved by the Board of Regents yet, so I can’t share what the exact price will be.”
6. There will no longer be a carryout option.
“While students may miss the carry-out in residential dining, I think most students will be happy…to have done their part to eliminate the six million pieces of single-use packaging used each year by students in our two dining halls,” she said. “Change is never easy, but what a way to make a difference for the environment.”
7. Students will pay by using a biometric hand-scanner to enter the diner instead of swiping their cards, so there will be less need for cashiers.
“Residential students will simply need to wave their hand through the wave reader and that’s it,” Wright-Riva explained. “There will be less cashiers in the future, but the work shifts to other areas, so the workforce size overall shouldn’t change in any significant way.”
8. Dining Dollars will be replacing Terp Bucks.
Dining Dollars can be used at any convenience store or cafe, just like Terp Bucks. But, this new plan allows students to also spend these Dollars at the franchises in Stamp. “This is something students have been asking for…well, since forever,” Wright-Riva said.
9. New amenities will be added to the dining rooms in the future.
“In the future, we will introduce new amenities in our dining rooms – including charging stations and free-printing for residential students,” Wright-Riva shared.
10. Several new cafes will be opening “over the next 6-24 months.”
“These changes will improve our sustainability efforts, improve our menu variety, increase healthy and vegan/vegetarian options, decrease food insecurity for students and improve guest satisfaction,” Wright-Riva said. “ There may be some growing pains in the first few weeks/months, but if all goes according to plan, students should be much happier with their dining options and that’s an important goal for us to achieve.”