Bob Ritenbaugh, assistant vice president of Auxiliary Services, said first year on-campus residents will be required to invest $995 per semester in the dining plan and off-campus first year students will be required to invest $300 per semester in a similar plan.
“After four years of phased in expansion, all AU full-time undergrads will be participants in the program,” Ritenbaugh said.
Students are not paying directly out of pocket- the fees are assessed similar to the Tiger Transit bus system on campus. The dollar amount for the service, in this case food, is built into tuition costs.
“Right now what we have is a debit plan, it’s called standing reservations and it’s managed by TigerCard/Tiger Club Accounts office, it’s just a whole new plan added through them, so we can (be) more of a convenience for the students,” David Robinson, manager of campus card operations, said.
Therefore, any student with a valid AU ID will be able to purchase meals from any available food facility on campus up to their specified limit.
“It’s a declining balance system people can choose to add more money if they want to and some will because neither of those numbers ($995 and $300 per semester) are any where near to what kids are spending today and we realize that. We weren’t trying to capture all the expenses,” Ritenbaugh said.
What the University is trying to capture is a more socially spirited atmosphere.
“We believe the changes will create a dynamic and collegial environment across campus for students to gather, socialize, make friends, and increase their connection to academics as well as the Auburn spirit,” Ritenbaugh said.
Ritenbaugh said the amount is modest for off- campus students because they are more likely to dine outside of campus, but it is considerably higher for on-campus students because the University is trying to promote idea of living and learning.
Timing is essential in implementing the new mandatory meal plans for students. Currently, there are few dining facilities for students to choose from aside from Terrell Dining Hall, Lupton Deli and Foy.
“It would be difficult to introduce this with the current venues,” Ritenbaugh said. “I think when the student center opens next summer, it will be easier for students to find something they can enjoy. We feel real positive about the future of dining (on AU campus.)”
So does Tom Callahan, resident district manager for Chartwells food services.
Callahan said they have already begun to make several improvements since they took over July 1.
“There is a whole new look on this campus,” Callahan said. The beverage carriage (in Foy) has been completely redone all the other venues have been freshened up. There’s new signage, a couple new points of service (and) a tremendous amount of offerings (including) salads, sandwiches, desserts, and a variety of stuff for the student on the go.”
Along with time, student opinion also played an integral role in the decision to change campus dining.
“Well we’re not a cookie-cutter company, so what we do is we go and look at the facility to see what makes sense for (the area,)” Callahan said. “We do a lot of surveys and during this process we surveyed a lot of students to see what they were looking for in terms of venues on campus, What we’re putting in place is what we believe (students) want, now if after six months or we continue to survey the students and it’s not right for the students then we’ll change, we’re all about the students.”
Robinson said Chartwells will bring a lot of benefits to the Auburn student community because they seem to be more in tuned with what students want.
Dining venues include Au Bon Pain, Outtakes, as well as existing brands such as Einsteins and Chick-fil-A. Select stores are already scheduled to open late and have more flexible hours than current venues.
The new meal plan will directly coincide with the completion of the new student union in fall 2008.
Chartwells will manage the new dining facilities at the new Village housing scheduled to be completed in Spring 2009.
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