N.C . State is looking to make some big changes to the on-campus dining experience.

This fall, students will find the meal equivalencies, mean plans, Board Bucks and the way they use their I.D . card have all changed.

Jennifer Gilmore is the marketing and communications manager for Campus Enterprises, a retail division that encompasses University Dining and other N.C . State Facilities,  and said the changes were necessary.

“Students wanted later eating hours. …They weren’t using their meal plans or Board Bucks as intended. … University Dining had to come up with a solution to the problem or raise prices,” Gilmore said.

Due to the student demand for later evening hours, University Dining added another meal period, Late Night, to its schedule. Late Night will start after 9 p.m . and will run until closing. To allow students options to eat their late night snacks, the Atrium will stay open until 10 p.m . and Talley, the first addition opening fall 2013, will be open until 11 p.m .

“I think it’s a great idea and would provide more convenience for students,” Melanie Baker, senior in communications, said.

With the completion of Talley in fall 2014, “there will be a significant increase in the number of places students can eat,” Gilmore said.

Students will have a new variety of places to pick for their meals such as the World Market, which will feature different cuisines from around the world.

Meal equivalencies are expected to increase from $4.75 to $5.00 for breakfast and from $5.85 to $6.25 for all other meal periods. Jennifer White, senior in biochemistry and English literature, said she thinks this is a great idea.

“It seems like University Dining keeps making it harder and harder to keep to a meal plan and enjoy what you’re eating, specifically in the Atrium,” White said.

University Dining will be removing the 14 meals-per-week plan and replacing it with a 130 meals per semester block plan.

“The 130 meals per semester meal plan will provide a happy medium to the 100 and 160 meals per semester plans,” Gilmore said.

Campus Enterprises will be introducing a new I.D . card called the Wolf Pack One Card. This card will not only act as a student I.D . but as a prepaid MasterCard as well. This will allow students to use their card on and off campus.

New students who enter the University this fall will get the card for free, while current students can obtain the card for $10.

“I know that happens a lot on other campuses, and I think it would be good for us to join in on that,” Austin Hampton, graduate in biomechanics, said.

Another change taking place concerns the current Board Bucks system. The name Board Bucks will be changed to Dining Dollars.

“There seemed to be confusion among students when it came to Board Bucks,” Gilmore said.

University Dining originally chose the name Board Bucks because of the expression “room and board,” board meaning food.

“Dining Dollars would help students understand the use of this component better since students didn’t seem to associate the old name with the term room and board,” Gilmore said.

Dining Dollars are supposed to be used to buy snacks from the vending machines and C-Stores; however, students aren’t using Dining Dollars for this purpose, according to Gilmore. Instead, if they want to buy snacks they will use their meal equivalencies to do so. This is causing a problem for dining.

“University Dining charges a cost of 30 percent the cost of goods, when students use their meal plans to buy snacks, they are taking the $5 equivalency and using it to buy food of a lesser cost,” Gilmore said.

In other words, the dining facilities aren’t getting the money back for what they put out. Since University Dining is a revenue-generating business that is not financed by N.C . State, they have to find a way to make enough money to stay in business, the easy solution to this problem would be to increase the prices of their goods.

As a result of this problem, all meal plans except for the Athletic and Commuter Plans, will be required to purchase Dinning Dollars as a part of their meal plan. University Dining will allow Dining Dollars to roll over from year to year. At the end of a student’s educational career, whether that is through graduation or withdrawal, a student can request to have the remainder of their Dining Dollars transferred back to them.

“Students have nothing to lose by purchasing Dining Dollars,” Gilmore said.

There will also be changes made to the Freedom Pass, the University’s most popular meal plan. The amount of meal equivalencies a student can use per week will drop from 25 down to 10.

“Freedom Pass holders use about an average of 6.6 meal equivalencies per week, with the most being 16 per week and the least being none,” Gilmore said.

This loss of money prevents University Dining from giving back to the N.C . State, as well as adding new additions and upgrades to N.C . State’s dining facilities.

“University Dining strives to provide meal plans that works for a majority of students at state a reasonable price by adding controls to keep prices down for students who use the meal plans as intended,” Gilmore said.