Despite student fears early in the semester, data from Dining Services indicate students actually have more points left now than they did at the same time last year.
At the beginning of the semester, Dining Services increased the standard meal plan by $55.50 to accommodate the higher cost of the bulk food it purchases. Even with the increase, most students were concerned they would run out of points before the semester's end.
However, according to Dining Services spokesman Bart Hipple, students using one of the three main meal plans - the Resident Dining Plan, the Resident Dining Plan Plus or the Resident Dining Plan Red - had on average about $10 more on Nov. 19 than they did at the same point last year.
"I think I'm going to have a lot left," freshman business major Suzanne DeStio said of her dining points. However, not all of her friends were in the same boat.
"All of my guy friends are under," DeStio said.
A cashier at The Diner, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to Dining Services rules about talking with reporters, said she and other cashiers sometimes look at the remaining totals on students' plans as they check out and have noticed their points seem low.
"Really low," said another cashier.
Student Government Association President Jonathan Sachs said the issue of increased prices at the dining halls has come up at the weekly town hall meetings he hosts and at a public leadership class he taught in the Cambridge Community Center Tuesday night.
"A lot of people were concerned that they're running out of their meal plans too quickly," Sachs said, citing students who claimed food prices at the dining halls have inflated.
Sachs said he will be speaking with Dining Services soon to attempt to address the issue.
Some students still maintain that eating this year has been more expensive than last.
"The cheese sticks and fries and all that stuff seems like it costs a lot more," sophomore animal sciences major Lisa Carlson said.
Sophomore bioengineering major Hsiang Lan Chan said he used less money than allocated in his dining plan last year but so far has spent about $100 more than budgeted this semester. Chan said the food this year seems to be of higher quality but is more expensive.
Hipple suggested students finding themselves low on points for the first time this semester may need to look at their own habits to find the cause.
"Students are eating with us more days a week than last year," Hipple said. He said students are leaving the campus less often because of higher gas and food prices and travel costs.
Some students rejected the idea that higher travel costs might be the cause of their lower point totals.
"People are going to go off campus anyway," said senior physics major Kevin Dwyer. "I don't think [the price of gas] would really affect it that much."
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