Students with meal plans are now limited to one meal transfer per meal period per day.
The limit has been reduced from two meal transfers per transaction, said Dining Director David Heidke. The new limit was put into effect to speed up service times at vendors offering meal transfers and to reduce waste to keep the cost of student dining plans down.
In addition to all first-year on-campus residents, second-year residence hall residents are now also required to purchase a meal plan.
Chris Cleveland is the south region district manager for Chartwells, the food and nutrition company that oversees on-campus dining companies. He handles the administration of dining services at all the universities where Chartwells provides services. Up to this point, LSU was unique in allowing students to use multiple meal transfers per transaction.
“On a traditional meal plan at any major university, there are limitations involved with meal plans. Most of them are one [transfer] per meal. There is no sharing,” Cleveland said.
Both Cleveland and Heidke said they witnessed students using their meal transfers at multiple vendors in the Tiger Lair, accumulating up to eight meals before sitting down to eat. They cited this behavior as a primary reason for delays in service.
“It is a waste,” Heidke said.
Students are still allowed to swipe in family and friends at the dining halls, he said.
“I don’t see that changing in the near future,” Cleveland said.
Richard Ward, business management senior, said he sees the limit as a way to keep crowds down during peak hours, but that students should still be able choose how they use their dining options.
“If [students] want to use up their meal transfers all at once, which doesn’t seem like a good idea to me, they should be able to do it. They paid for it,” Ward said.
Hieu Nguyen, chemical engineering senior, said students using several meal transfers in one meal period was most common at the end of the semester.
“A lot of people have leftover meals at the end of the year and end up sharing with their friends,” Nguyen said.
Abby Duhe, biological engineering senior, said she supports the limit.
“It encourages students to eat their own meals on their own time rather than saving up and sharing,” said Duhe.
 
____
Contact Paul Braun at [email protected]