Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series focusing on the proposed DDS changes next year. This part examines recent student reaction.
Dartmouth Dining Services' recently proposed changes to meal plans, which would increase the smallest available dining plan and limit spending at Topside convenience store to $100 per term, have run into opposition from students who think they will be most affected by the changes.
The average student spends $158 at Topside each term, which, DDS officials said, means that the $100 limit should not affect many students significantly. Nonetheless, a large number of students have raised objections to the limit.
"The topside limit is ridiculous," Lucy Liu '09 said. "I understand that DDS needs to make profit, but to take away a convenience that has been offered to students for years isn't fair."
Other students have complained that the limit would be especially inconvenient for those who preferred not to eat in dining halls.
"I probably spend $300 or more at Topside each term. I like being able to cook for myself," Steve Gomez '07 said. "There aren't many restaurants in Hanover so it gives me another option when I'm sick of DDS."
Currently, students can spend as much of their Declining Balance Account at Topside as they choose.
DDS fiscal manager Don Blume explained that students would still be able to charge Topside spending to their college bill or DASH, a student account separate from the meal plan, once spending surpassed $100, so students would still be able to purchase extra items.
Alana Finley '06, treasurer of Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority, said that the limit would prove particularly difficult for members of her sorority who use Topside purchases in lieu of some of their dues.
"Theta awards financial aid to members in return for house service hours, and an easy way to do these hours is to purchase food from Topside for our events," she said. "I think the proposed change for a Topside limit is going to seriously affect this policy, and that's a shame since it has really made things better and easier for Theta's officers and members."
Blume said that the profit margin on items sold at Topside is substantially less than those at DDS dining outlets because of the store's small size. Because of this discrepancy, he said, DDS needs to redirect student spending in order for it to break even financially.
While students said they understood the need for DDS to earn higher profits, many proposed alternative solutions. Such suggestions included raising prices at Topside and limiting Topside spending by a percentage of the meal plan rather than by a specified amount so that people with bigger plans could have more to spend.
"I'd rather see Topside raise its prices than place a limit. Students seem willing to pay higher prices so that they don't have to spend their own cash in town," Finley said. "My parents pay for my DBA, but they won't pay for stuff at CVS."
Some students have suggested that the reluctance to raise prices might be due to the fact that DDS is relying on students' inability to use all of their DBA if spending is purely restricted to meal purchases.
"The bottom line is that DDS makes more when you simply have DBA left over than if you spend more money at Topside [at higher prices]," Dave Raines '07 said.
The Topside limit, coupled with the $950 balance required for the new Mini-Green plan, led to concerns from a number of students who said they will be unable to use up the minimum amount. According to information provided by DDS, slightly over 20% of students spent less than $900 a term in DBA last year and, of that number, 489 carried the Mini-Green plan.
"The amounts of the meal plans were made by looking at typical student spending, we set the low on-campus plan at a level significantly below the student average, so people who eat less wouldn't feel pressure to buy into a plan that they can't spend," Miriam Glaser '06, a member of the student committte reevaluating meal plans, said.
Allie Boyles '07, who is currently on the Mini-Green plan, said however that she struggled to use up her current plan and was annoyed that DDS seemed to make no provision for people who chose to eat less or eat food not served in dining halls.
"This program is set up for fat people and linebackers," Boyles said. "I don't like anything at Food Court. What am I supposed to do now?"
Under the new scheme DBA will roll over from term to term until the end of the academic year when any remaining balance will be lost. Students have been pushing for DBA rollover for years, but now many are questioning what they will do with rolled over money come the end of the year, especially since they will be unable to switch to a much smaller plan or spend the extra money at Topside.
"The rollover is a nice feature and I support it, but my concern is that the addition of rollover becomes meaningless if there is a cap [on Topside spending] and the smallest meal plan has been removed," Student Assembly member Chris Bertrand '06 said.
"I don't think the changes benefit the students at all," Gomez said. "Even the rollover is trivial once students learn to pick the meal plan that suites them and, if DDS intends to scrap the smallest meal plan, the students who spend less will keep rolling over all these dollars they'll never use."
Student Assembly passed a statement last week opposing the proposed changes and Bertrand said the assembly will invite student members of the committee and DDS officials to discuss the proposals at Tuesday's meeting.
