As one of two self-operated dining programs in the UNC System, NC State Dining operates entirely on revenue from meal plans and dining facility visitors, according to Jennifer Gilmore, director of marketing and communication for Campus Enterprises.
A part of this revenue, Gilmore said, is excess Dining Dollars at graduation, which stopped being refunded about 1-2 years ago. She said Campus Enterprises is now careful to communicate dining dollar balance with students before graduation.
“We actually allow students to roll those Dining Dollars over from semester to semester, whereas at a lot of universities, they expire at the end of the semester,” Gilmore said. “We used to refund them at the end, when you graduate, but we got to the point where it became more difficult because … escrow is just not a good thing.”
As of Aug. 23, 2019, Gilmore said approximately 10,604 students have a meal plan. She said this breaks down into 5,022 with the Weekday Plan, 2,637 with the commuter, 1,751 with block, 632 with everyday, 259 with deluxe, and the remainder with athletic plans.
Cassidy Hubbard, a fourth-year studying zoology, said she had the Everyday Plan as a first- and second-year.
“Almost every meal I had that wasn’t in a dining hall, I always went into my Dining Dollars if I got a drink or something,” Hubbard said. “I didn’t like that you had to spend all of your dining dollars or they would just be taken.”
Dining Dollars can be used in C-Stores and campus vending machines as well as dining halls, on-campus restaurants and food courts. They can be added to an account at any time throughout the year.
“[Dining Dollars are] supposed to be the flexible part of your dining,” Gilmore said. “If you eat at the dining hall and then you eat with your meal credits, the dining dollars are meant to cover the difference when you go over a meal credit.”
Gilmore cited some advantages of having a meal plan instead of paying out of pocket. *Specifically, the Commuter/Apartment Plan, which provides 750 Dining Dollars per semester and no meal credits, offers a 5% discount on all purchases. All other plans do not get this discount.
“You get a 5% discount at the cash register, so that’s the real difference in [dining dollars versus paying out-of-pocket],” Gilmore said. “If a student is on scholarship or financial aid … they can cover it with scholarship or financial aid money.”
Ryan Lynch, a fourth-year studying mechanical engineering, said this 5% discount is the reason he pays for meals in Dining Dollars instead of out of pocket.
“I’d like a dining hall on Centennial,” Lynch said. “There are plenty of places to get food on Centennial … [but] I think the dining hall is usually the best value.”
Mikael Koeneke, fourth-year in mechanical engineering, had the Everyday Plan in the past but switched to the Commuter Plan, which is 750 Dining Dollars, after moving to Wolf Ridge Apartments on Centennial Campus.
“We look at the demand; we staff and we provide food based on that demand,” Gilmore said. “We try to manage it as tightly as we possibly can … We have one of the most economical meal plans compared to our peer institutions.”
Gilmore pointed to the $2,095/Semester Everyday Plan at NC State, which includes unlimited dining hall swipes and an additional 12 meal credits per week for the semester. At UNC Chapel Hill, she said, the $2,360.28 Unlimited Plan also includes unlimited dining hall access, but only has 35 additional meal credits, or “PLUS Swipes,” per semester.
“We have to manage our money in a way that we provide students with a good quality service today, and manage their money so that we can provide a good quality, better service for students tomorrow,” Gilmore said.
*Editor’s note: Added a sentence to clarify Gilmore’s statement about a 5% discount for Dining Dollars on the Commuter/Apartment Plan.
