This semester, new changes are being implemented to the meal plans and how students can use them.
With the largest incoming freshman class in recent years and students transferring from the University of the Arts, Temple students say they have been waiting longer for their meal than in previous years due to this increase.
Alana Beltran, a junior, says, “I feel like additionally since they’ve gotten rid of one of the dining halls, a lot of people are now waiting longer to get food or there’s not enough food and sometimes they run out.”
One of Temple Dinings initiatives to relieve wait times is limiting each student to two swipes per order, and four meal swipes in a dining period.
“I feel like for the amount of money that we are paying and giving to the university, especially like when it comes to our meal plans, we should be allowed to use them as we want and use them willingly,” says Beltran.
Jack Hannum, a sophomore, says they don’t like the changes, “As someone that’s on the block system, I like to be able to if I have leftovers at the end of the semester use them all at once.“
However, students say these changes have not had a positive effect on wait times.
“I actually think its gotten even longer, because there are just way too many people”, says junior, Othmane Harraq.
Temple Dining hopes these changes help to relieve food service workers from large amounts of orders.
“They have a lot of orders coming in daily, so I really don’t think that it’s helping them as much”, says Beltran.
Temple Dining has also increased the value of swipes from $9.75 to $10.50 and started allowing 3 to 5 guest swipes per semester. At this time the University and Temple Dining have not responded to Temple Updates request for a comment on the changes.
Among other changes to Temple Dining, the opening of Halal Shack is a recent addition to dining options for students on campus, it replaced the former sandwich shop, Which-Wich.
For now, students are getting used to the changes and learning how to get around the new restrictions.
Victor Oatis, a sophomore describes how they can get the most out of their meal swipes,“if they want to get some food, they have to separate it, into you know like separate orders.”
To learn more about all the changes to the meal plans, visit Temples Culinary Services website.
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