Students have extra meal points at semester's end

During the last couple of weeks of the school year, students with residential programs and services meal points flocked to the dining halls, "center" stores, and the Read McDonald's to spend the last of their meal points before they are gobbled up by Residential Programs and Services.\n"I have about five meal points left because I've been paying for friends that have had about zero points the last three weeks," said sophomore Sergio Avila. "I've gotten more phone calls this week than I have all year. It's no big deal -- I wasn't going to use them all myself."\nIU meal plans are set up so a dollar is equivalent to one "point" valid at any RPS vendor or dining faculty within the campus community. RPS estimates a student spends about 6 points -- or $6 -- per meal. \nFor the first time in eight years, meal plan points increased about four percent before the 2004-2005 academic year. \n"When we run out of the things (students) really want, they buy what's here," said John Kinser, McDonalds swing-manager at the Read Center. "Customers have been asking 'How many meal points do I have left?' for the last couple weeks. Last year at this time, we had customers with hundreds of dollars to spend on the last day. Students budgeted much better this year." \nKinser said his staff ran out of bottled water, tomatoes and ice cream by closing time Friday -- the deadline for meal point usage for the fall through spring academic year. \nJose Celis, a meal plan coordinator for RPS, said meal point plans "only carry over" from fall to spring and Summer I to Summer II. \n"Over the course of the summer we are looking at the product mix, evaluated by student demand," said Errol Huffman, business consultant for RPS dining services. "We are going to get rid of some items, especially those perceived as high-priced. The meal plan committee is exploring a whole point rollover plan -- the option of rolling over expired points from May to the summer or fall semester during a six-month reprieve."\nHuffman said more than 98 percent of all meal plan points, despite decreased point purchasing power over time, are spent by students throughout the year. \nAvila said he would appreciate "more food options" because the same vendors seem to rotate the same menus week after week. He said his "C" meal plan, on the other hand, seemed a better option than other food services offered at other universities throughout the state. \n"My friend at Purdue got 15 swipes a week from a meal card," Avila said. "If you don't use them that week, you lose them for the year."\nHuffman said RPS is interested in expanding faculty lounges across campus, opening small dining facilities in buildings like the Student Recreational Sports Center and other ventures to increase non-student revenue. He also said RPS is considering the option of requiring only first-year residents to purchase a "mandatory meal plan."\n"(RPS) does not want to make a business out of making people feel like they have to have a meal plan," Huffman said. "Parents tell us to ensure their children can eat during the first year away from home. We believe we have a good product that is hard to beat. The more sharing in costs, the less cost it is for everybody."\nAvila said students can learn to budget their meal point plans throughout the school year, despite the common student perception of high food costs at many of the RPS vendors. \n"My friends went to the Wright food court all the time, while I ate (at McDonald's) quite often and Ramen noodles in my dorm all the time," he said. "You have to be careful or you'll be like my friends -- you end up eating air"