Dining and Hospitality Services implemented changes to dining benefits and meal plans and updated dining hall hours of operation for the fall semester.
Larry Lee, the Executive Director of Auxiliary Services, explained the changes made to dining and meal plans will provide students with a more valuable meal plan, affordability in pricing and price transparency when choosing a meal plan.
Lee encourages students to find the meal plan that best suits their needs, which can be found in the glossary section of the Dining and Hospitality Services website.
“Our meal plans are almost half of what they are at most institutions in terms of cost, but our meal plans are also, I would say, almost twice as valuable, so it’s a really cool dynamic. They cost a lot less, and you get a lot more,” Lee said.
New benefits provided by these changes include increased flex dollars for on-campus dining locations such as Clyde’s Cupboard, Cafe ’65 and Big Cat Coffee Shops, and retail discounts have been incorporated with this year’s meal plans when mobile IDs are presented.
Expanded meal equivalencies included in the different meal plans have been introduced to allow students to use meal swipes outside of the dining halls for further options at Cafe ’65 or Big Cat Coffee.
Mobile ordering is now available through the Transact Mobile Ordering app, which offers pick-up orders for on campus dining with the chance to earn different rewards.
Guest meals have been extended to include friends and family from off-campus, and students can also choose for these guest meals to be donated to Clyde’s Cupboard.
Lee explained that funding and budgeting has not been a direct factor in these changes but noted that the effects of inflation and hyperinflation influenced the decisions behind the changes.
“I will tell you one of the things that occurred over COVID-19 — we had some venues close and we had some service hours truncated at some of the venues that were open. Some of it was a labor shortage,” Lee said.
The COVID-19 pandemic left a lasting effect on the hospitality industry, which brought on challenges to hours of operation, but Lee is committed to providing accessible hours for on-campus dining locations that meet the needs of the campus.
“Now the expectation is everything be open all the time, and we’re trying to stay committed to that,” Lee said.
Students can find information about the new hours for on-campus dining locations on the Dining and Hospitality Services dining hours page.
Students can also follow their Instagram at uccscampusdining for regular updates.
The Roaring Fork is the dining hall located in Alpine Village. It is the newer dining hall on campus. Photo by Megan Moen.