At the beginning of last semester’s finals week, Georgetown Dining implemented a pilot program where students with meal plans could exchange meal swipes for food at Hoya Court, which Aramark operates along with Leo O’Donovan Hall and Einstein Bros. Bagels. The program was wildly popular with students, drawing large crowds throughout the duration of the program. The university should work towards permanently implementing the program and liberalizing where students on a meal plan can eat on campus.
The concept of utilizing meal plans across a number of campus-wide dining locations is standard practice at other universities. For example, students at neighboring American University are free to use their meal swipes at their own branch of Elevation Burger, among other retail locations on campus.
However, this practice, while a viable financial model at other universities, still remains largely absent at Georgetown. In Nov. 2013, Auxiliary Business Services began allowing the use of meal swipes at the university’s two Einstein locations, both of which have limited operating hours. However, it ruled out expanding the program to other on-campus restaurants. Given the success of last month’s pilot, it is clear that expanding the meal exchange program could help to address longstanding grievances students have had about the meal plan’s limited options. It will also bring Georgetown Dining closer to the standards that university undergraduates have come to expect from college dining services across the nation.
The inequity between the monetary value of a meal swipe and the quality of dining hall food drives some upperclassmen to drop their meal plans as soon as the university no longer requires them to purchase one. To convince them to stay, Georgetown Dining has tried offering prizes to juniors and seniors who purchase a meal plan, which in recent years have ranged from computer tablets to, most recently, mini Wi-Fi routers.
Some upperclassmen lack the time to cook for themselves or the spare change to eat out in the neighborhood, which, unlike other typical college towns, is populated with expensive and upscale restaurants. A more flexible meal plan that includes diverse and high-quality options like the ones offered in Hoya Court will incentivize such students to return to the meal plan, providing Georgetown Dining with added revenue. With more upperclassmen incentivized to continue their meal plans, Georgetown Dining can mitigate the cost burdens of continuing meal exchange programs with on-campus restaurants.
Hoya Court employees may be concerned about the increased crowds that the pilot program drew, especially because Hoya Court already caters to hospital staff, graduate students, and other visitors during the day. Nevertheless, it remains generally empty in the evenings, when it has more operational capacity to serve undergraduate students. Eventually, the program’s novelty will wear off; students will incorporate Hoya Court into their daily routines, and the long queues seen during the pilot program will dissipate over time.
Increasing on-campus meal options is not an impossible endeavor, and Georgetown Dining need not make upperclassmen gamble for technology products with dubious value. Making the Hoya Court meal exchange program permanent, even if students were only allowed to swipe at Hoya Court during the evenings, would increase the value of a meal plan and bring in more revenue for Georgetown Dining—a win-win for both students and Aramark. Ultimately, no good reason exists for the university not to let the most exciting thing to happen to dining on the Hilltop since, perhaps, the introduction of the Leo’s panini press.
