Dartmouth Dining Services is considering a plan that would require all students to buy a non-refundable $800 per term meal plan in an effort to halt the massive financial losses that have plagued the company. DDS has lost more than $1 million since 1994, as more students take their business to downtown restaurants.
College Treasurer Lyn Hutton said DDS had a net loss of $400,000 in the 1996 fiscal year. Current figures show DDS is on track to lose money again this year. Because DDS has no reserve fund, the College must subsidize its loss.
"Dining Services cannot continue to lose money," Hutton said. "It has to break even."
DDS Director Pete Napolitano said DDS cannot provide the existing level of service at current revenue levels. Students can currently spend as little as $100 with DDS per term.
"A student can get through Dartmouth with very little participation" in the DDS program, Napolitano said. "That's not going to do it for all the services this college offers."
The average student spends $625 per term currently, which is down from more than $700 per term in 1992, Napolitano told the Student Assembly last night. In addition, only eight students purchased 14-meal plans this term.
DDS is in a "pretty bad state financially at this point," Napolitano told the Assembly.
In order to break even, DDS must choose between cutting programs and increasing students' spending.
"If we're going to sustain the program as it exists today, spending levels are going to have to increase," he said. "In order to keep them going, I need some commitment from students that they'll support them by way of patronizing them."
Napolitano said DDS and the College have considered plans that would reduce costs, like cutting services and limiting hours, and plans that would increase revenue, including the $800 non-refundable DBA.
When asked about lowering the $800 figure at the Assembly meeting, Napolitano said "the $800 level is the bear minimum. That's where you start."
Napolitano said he doubts students will accept cuts in services and programs.
"We haven't heard students talking to us to tell us to close our doors or cut our services," he said.
"How can I do that with the minimal amount you're paying?" he said.
Student Assembly Vice President Chris Swift '98 said the Assembly's Executive Board discussed the issue at a meeting on Sunday and was not "excited about the non-refundable part, but recognized the importance of DDS as a financially solvent body."
"Students were not happy about it," he said. "But as people who work with the administration, we understand the need to deal with the issue."
Swift said he and Assembly President Jon Heavey '97 have proposed that DDS work with the College to submit a referendum to the student body.
The referendum would ask students to choose what they think is the best of four possible solution to DDS's financial woes so that "students understand the importance of DDS breaking even and DDS and the College understand the importance of student opinions of services and programs," Swift said.
He said such a referendum would allow students "to choose whether and how they want the changes to be made" and "to say what it is they want to buy from the College and how much they're willing to pay for it."
One of DDS's headaches is the success of the Hanover Green Card, a privately-owned business that issues debit cards for use with local merchants.
Mitch Jacobs '94, founder and owner of the Green Card, said his business has "grown considerably," an indicator that more students are taking their business to town.
Jacobs said the mandatory, non-refundable $800 DBA would hurt Hanover restaurants, since students spend about $900 on food each term.
"If it's a mandatory $800 meal plan, it's obviously not going to be favorable to us," he said. He said the proposal would adversely affect students choosing between a meal in town or a meal on campus.
Hutton said the Green Card is not the real problem with DDS. She said DDS has been most harmed by the proliferation of restaurants in Hanover.
In addition to competing with the Green Card and other local resaurants, DDS has recently had to deal with the increased cost of providing food service in the new East Wheelock supercluster as well as at the golf course and the Dartmouth Skiway.
