Campus Dining Services’ switch to block meal plans has been successful, CDS Marketing Manager Michael Wuest said.

“When students were surveyed last year one of their top priorities was to have a dining plan that didn’t expire week to week,” he said. “Block plans achieve this. Students seem to appreciate budgeting their meals themselves.”

CDS switched from meal plans by the week to plans by the semester last summer. Under the old system, students chose from 7, 10, 14, 17 or 21 meals per week. After each week, any leftover meals would expire.

Under the new system, students choose from 175, 225 or 275 meals per semester. Meals don’t expire, meaning a week with fewer trips to the dining halls won’t result in wasted meals.

“I appreciate the switch,” sophomore Spencer Melgren said. “Last year, every Saturday I would rush to Emporium to spend all my extra points. On weekends that I went home they would expire. If I forgot they would also expire. I felt like I was setting my money on fire.”

The new plan also allows for the use of partial meals. Previously, fractional meals would round up to a whole. Students were charged an entire meal whether they used .2 of a meal or .8. Now any fraction is subtracted from a running total.

Because of the plan’s success, Wuest said there are no proposed changes to the current system.

The most common request from students is an option to check their balance online, which Wuest said CDS is working toward.

Without the “use it or lose it” system, Wuest said students have more meals now than they did at the same time in 2010.

Students are also wondering what they’ll be able to receive in exchange for their unused meals at the end of the semester.

Wuest said CDS is still working on the details of what will be available but plans on having many options. Students can expect an official announcement by the end of Thanksgiving Break, if not sooner.

“I want some money back,” Melgren said.