When in a rush between classes or when strapped for time, some students on a meal plan lack the luxury of being able to sit down in a dining hall and eat. The availability of points is helpful, but they’re only useful until they’re gone. This year, dining services expanded the availability of meal swipes to include locations such as The Stein, Louis’ Deli and the C-Store. However, these additions are extremely limited and do not reflect the value of a meal swipe in a dining hall.

In Lower Usdan and Sherman, a meal swipe for lunch and dinner costs $12.50 and $13.50, respectively. A meal swipe should be valued in the same way during lunch and dinner periods anywhere, but this is not the case. In Louis’, the maximum price for an item available for a meal swipe is $6.99. At The Stein, where only three items are available on a meal plan, the maximum price is $7.99. This discrepancy makes it clear that a meal is not valued in the same way in all relevant dining locations.

It makes very little sense for students to set different values to a single meal swipe; a meal swipe in the dining halls gets students all they can eat while a swipe at Louis’ gets students a small selection of sandwiches, a bag of chips and a drink. The payment, a meal swipe, is the same in both scenarios, but the swipe is worth less at the deli.

There are several items on the menus at Louis’ and The Stein that, while under $13.50, are not available on the meal plan. Further, some of these items are available in the dining halls. Why should a meal swipe be able to obtain something in a dining hall but not be able to obtain the same item in another location?

If you wanted any of these items, you’re going to need to use either points or money. Given that a meal is worth up to $13.50, the discrepancy is unacceptable.

This semester, dining services stepped up and answered student calls to have expanded availability for meal swipes around campus dining locations, but the upgrades have not gone far enough. The university and Sodexo can use these changes as a basis for further development, but they cannot continue to raise meal plan prices and lower point totals without offering substantial dining upgrades.

First, the university and Sodexo need to pin a fixed value to a meal swipe for any specific dining period that can apply to any campus locations that accept meals. Those items on the menu equalling or priced lower than the meal period’s price should be listed as a meal, which will significantly improve the selection available to students in a pinch.

Further, the current setup of on-campus options for meal swipes is limited to upper campus and The Stein, which is only open late on certain days. This limited availability creates a dilemma for students in a run on lower campus. Although there are several good dining options other than Sherman, none of them offer food purchases with a meal swipe. In a time where meal plan prices are rising and the number of points is dwindling, the university cannot limit dining options to hurried students.

While it is foolish to expect the university and Sodexo to jump headfirst into these suggestions, we need to remind them that many students do not have time to use all of the meal swipes they have in the dining halls. The recent changes represent an excellent step forward. It’s now time to take the next step.