Get them while they’re hot — meals may disappear faster than a few swipes can take away.
Students will no longer be allowed to use all of their meals at the end of the semester, but they will still be allowed to swipe others into the dining halls.
This year’s meal plans now consist of a set number of meals per week instead of a set number of meals per semester.
Students can choose to have 12, 15 or 19 meals per week. The number resets each Sunday, so at the beginning of each week, students have a new batch of meals to use, and the clock starts ticking over again.
Unused meals expire at the end of each week and students will no longer be able to access them.
“This system allows students to manage their meals much better, and it’s a lot less wastage in terms of them using their meals or rushing to use them all at the end of the semester,” said Dean Samuels, LSU Dining marketing director.
Though the total number of meals per semester has not changed, the price of the meal plans has.
Samuels said the prices increase by a few percent each year, but the change has never been more than 5 percent.
“The prices usually change each year,” Samuels said. “Of course, the cost of kitchens, the cost of food, the cost of gas — all these things affect the cost of a meal.”
He said the change stemmed from LSU Dining looking into how other universities’ meal plans worked and realizing that there was an opportunity to provide a better service for the students.
Both dining halls, the 459 Commons and The 5, are now open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will be open on weekends from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dining halls were previously closed on weekends.
“At the end of the day, we get the best value to be able to give to the students by having a seven-day per week program,” Samuels said.
He said students will still be allowed to swipe others into the dining halls, but it may not be in the student’s best interest because there’s a set amount of meals per week. The University discussed the issue and realized that a student being able to swipe someone else in to the dining halls helps to build community, Samuels said.
Students may use their allotted weekly meals whenever they want, but once the meals for the week have been used, they must wait until Sunday for more.
Student Government President Taylor Cox and SG Speaker Pro Tempore Lane Pace said they expect students to be upset with the changes.
“We don’t think our meals should be dictated by [LSU] Dining,” Cox said.
Pace said SG plans to fight the changes made to the meal plans if students have a negative reaction.
