Students report concerns with meal card system

The meal card swipe system at Norwich University garners plenty of discussion due to a multitude of problems.

"I don't think there are enough meal swipes and they don't tell us how many meal swipes we have," said Latoya Phillips, a sophomore nursing major.

Some issues with the meal card system is the cost of the meal card itself, the limited number of buddy swipes and the inability for students to type in their I.D. number if they forget their meal card.

A buddy swipe allows a student to swipe his or her card for another student if they do not have their meal card. Students cannot get into the chow hall unless their card is swiped.

"I think it's ridiculous that they only give us two," said Felicia Jones, 19, a sophomore biology major. "As long as you don't go over your meals you should be able to use buddy swipes whenever you need to."

"There should be more buddy swipes, two is not enough," said Mike Harris, 19, a sophomore mechanical engineering major. He also said unused buddy swipes should be carried.

"At the University of Pittsburgh a student can swipe their meal card for three other people and themselves for every single meal," he said.

If a meal card breaks or is lost the student must purchase a new one. The cost varies depending on whether it was broken or lost. Students pay $15 if the meal card is lost and $5 if it's broken or unusable.

"I don't think a new meal card should cost 10, 15 dollars" said Phillips. "It should be free to replace it."

"We pay a ridiculous amount of money for our meal plan, they can give us a new card if we lose it," Jones said.

Students also say they would like to know how much they are paying for meals.

"Every other college they tell you how much you're paying for your meals," Phillips said

"It's important for people to know where their money is going," Harris said. "If I can save $500 on a different meal plan then that's $500 I can spend on books."