A&M’s Dining Dollar Policy Faces Federal Backlash
In a move likely to drastically reshape student dining experiences across the United States, the Department of Education has proposed a regulation that could change Texas A&M University’s current dining dollar policy. Aimed at eliminating these “hidden junk fees,” the proposal demands colleges and universities to refund any remaining balance on students’ meal accounts.
Starting in the 2024-25 academic year, Texas A&M plans to modify its current policy. This change will allow any remaining dining dollars at the end of a given semester to roll over for the duration of a student’s enrolment period.
This shift comes as a response to a March 15, 2024, briefing announced by the Biden-Harris administration, which seeks to toughen regulations surrounding opaque and unexpected fees thrust upon students and their families by academic institutions. This nationwide effort to curb prevalent college expenditures is designed to make higher education more accessible and affordable.
Current Policy: A Burden on Students?
Under the existing A&M policy, parents and students must forecast the amount of dining dollars they are likely to use. While these dollars roll over from the fall to spring semester, the summer term sees any unspent amount withheld by dining services.
These policies have indeed caused issues for many students like Bekah Wilks, a communications sophomore, who found herself laden with dining dollars by the end of the spring semester. Desperate efforts to use up the remaining balance led Wilks to pay for meals for friends and acquaintances, worrying that she wouldn’t get the unused money back. The federal regulation could well alleviate such student concerns and financial pressures.
Shifting Towards a More Inclusive and Student-Friendly Policy
If passed, the proposal wouldn’t affect traditional meal plans that offer students a set number of meals per semester. Nevertheless, it would hugely influence the dining dollars students use at campus locations. The proposed requirement for academic institutions to return the remaining balance of federal financial aid recipients’ meal plans promises to shake up the current system.
The new policy not only prevents students from wasting resources buying items they might not need but also stops colleges from creating financial penalties for students unable to use all their dining dollars.
Moreover, from a scheduling perspective, A&M’s Student Rule 19 states that students will not receive any refund from their meal plans after the fourth set of five class days in a fall or spring semester. However, this shift seems to ensure a more lenient policy in this regard in the future.
Increasing Affordability: An Essential Step
The A&M administration is committed to making these changes actionable despite the absence of an official directive, given its commitment to affordability. It’s intensifying its cooperation with Aggie Dining to render a variety of more affordable options to students.
As the current policy stands, the profits from meal sales are channeled towards Chartwells to aid the maintenance of on-campus dining operations. These funds are not held by A&M. Chartwells, a partner of over 300 U.S. colleges, is a leading figure in offering higher education dining services.
However, the new policy will allow dining dollars to roll over for the duration of a student’s time at Texas A&M, contributing to greater affordability and equality for student dining services.
Taking Matters to Student Government
Ava Blackburn, the Student Senate Speaker, advises students looking to change any policy to get in touch with a Student Government Association (SGA) representative. SGA acts as a bridge between administration and students, voicing concerns and helping carve out an action plan. However, Blackburn also pointed out that change isn’t always guaranteed due to complexities behind policies.
To will the winds of policy change, engaging with student government can empower students and make their voices heard, essentially ushering in a more democratic, student-driven approach to university policymaking.
