Following a petition signed by 2,200 UC Santa Barbara students, the university’s Campus Dining launched a Meal Plan Pilot Program this year to test potential policy changes.
The program allows students to rollover or donate their unused meal swipes, which otherwise expire at the end of each week.
It was implemented after a major petition by UCSB’s Young Democratic Socialists of America, which showed students favored reforming UCSB’s current meal plan system, and wanted more flexibility and more support for those facing food insecurity.
Housing, Dining and Auxiliary Enterprises started the pilot program in the fall, as the first phase of responding to student concerns.
The plan is “assessing programmatic costs and developing a marketing plan for the student community,” says university spokesperson Kiki Reyes.
She said 10% of UCSB’s on-campus population and another 10% of UCSB’s off-campus meal-plan holders have been randomly selected to participate in this pilot program. It allows for four meal swipes to roll over to the following week and two swipes to be used for another student, regardless of whether or not they have a UCSB meal plan.
Campus Dining has also reintroduced meal swipe donations “for those critical moments when a meal may feel out of reach,” according to the A.S. Food Bank.
Students with a meal plan can now donate their swipes to students experiencing food insecurity and students who are interested in receiving meal swipe donations can apply for a meal voucher. This donation feature is not limited to students who have been selected for the pilot program and is applicable to all UCSB students.
The student petition was created after a research study conducted by the UCSB’s Young Democratic Socialists of America, which found that 96% of responding students felt they would benefit from a meal swipe rollover system.
Another 64% of students with meal plans felt the need to ration their weekly swipes, while 34% of respondents admitted to skipping meals due to insufficient swipes. More than 15% of students had been forced to downgrade their meal plans to qualify for EBT benefits.
Under UCSB’s current meal plan system, students’ meal swipes expire at the end of each week and swipes cannot be shared with any other students, except through the donation program.
According to the Daily Nexus, there have been some efforts to implement a meal swipe rollover policy since 2006, though budget restraints stopped past attempts.
UCSB’s Campus Dining is an auxiliary enterprise, meaning it “is fully self-funded and self-supported, and does not receive funding from tuition dollars, the state, or other outside sources,” says Reyes. Any changes to meal plans therefore have to meet student needs while financially supporting the Campus Dining Department, she said.
Some students who have been selected for and opted into the pilot program were willing to share their experiences but would not share their names for publication. Overall, they said were glad they were not forced to finish the meal credits by the end of each week, and to stop “wasting” any unused meal swipes. Those meals can now get rolled over, get donated, or be used to swipe other students into UCSB’s dining commons.
One improvement that several pilot program holders would like to see is a more user-friendly platform for keeping track of rollover meals. One students said “the online wallet page is confusing to read” and another student said they have not used their rollover swipes because of the confusing tracking platform.
As the pilot program unfolds, its success will determine whether these reforms become permanent by fall quarter 2025.
Reyes says, “We hope that these changes will address students’ needs for flexibility, while allowing us to meet our commitments to sustainability, food access, and excellence in food service.”
Meal plans for students who live in residence halls range from 10 to 19 meal swipes per week. Plans for off-campus students range from 5 meals a week ($712 for winter quarter) to 17 meals a week ($2,086 for winter quarter).