On February 14, a completely new set of meal plans was announced to current and future residents of Stevens Housing.
There are four different plans in the new system, down from six, and the plans are named after different denominations of computer storage in a play on words. In order from most expansive to least, they are: Terra Bite [sic], Giga Bite, Mega Bite, and Kilo Bite. In the past, the three highest grade plans gave students a certain number of generic meal swipes per week (with the top plan notably granting unlimited swipes each week) and one weekly Washington Street Wednesday (WSW) swipe; the three lowest grade plans gave students a set amount of generic swipes per semester without the inclusion of WSW. The generic swipes were redeemable for all food on campus and could be exchanged either for entrance to Pierce Dining Hall or for one meal of a set size at any of the meal exchange vendors around campus (Colonel John’s, America’s Cup, Red & Gray, and Pierce Café). WSW was a program that allowed students to get one meal (from set lists of eligible meals) from participating locations on Washington Street, but only on Wednesdays. Each plan also came with a set amount of guest swipes, which let students swipe someone else into Pierce Dining Hall.
The new system incorporates some aspects of the old system, while also bringing in new ideas and approaching the same concepts in new ways. Meal swipes are now separated into three categories: premium, regular, and snack. Premium meal swipes will replace WSW and will be redeemable whenever the participating restaurants are open, rather than just on Wednesdays, but each plan only has a set amount of premium swipes. In the past, the number of WSW swipes was only limited by the number of Wednesdays in a semester, around 16 when including finals, so the Terra Bite and Giga Bite plans will include more total Washington Street meals than the old plans. Regular swipes will essentially be what the existing swipes are now, getting students into Pierce for lunch or dinner, or redeeming for a meal at Colonel John’s or other retail dining outlets on campus. Snack swipes will be for smaller items such as pastries or drinks, and will also allow entry to Pierce, but only for breakfast. According to Trina Ballantyne, Dean of Residential & Dining Services, “snack swipes can include a pastry with a beverage, a yogurt and a piece of fruit, and a variety of additional grab and go items.” As for why they will be able to grant access to Pierce for breakfast, or if the breakfast options there will be changing at all because of that fact, she said, “by offering breakfast at Pierce Dining Hall as a snack, students receive more value for their meal plan since they do not have to use a full meal swipe for breakfast. The breakfast in Pierce Dining Hall will be just as robust as it is now; there will not be a reduction in options or services.” Here is the breakdown of the different plans, their prices, and exactly how many swipes of each type they will include:
TERRA BITE: 25 Premium Swipes, 230 Regular Swipes, 100 Snack Swipes, 8 Guest Meals $3,530 per semester
GIGA BITE: 20 Premium Swipes, 160 Regular Swipes, 70 Snack Swipes, 5 Guest Meals $2,650 per semester
MEGA BITE: 15 Premium Swipes, 70 Regular Swipes, 45 Snack Swipes, 3 Guest Meals $1,600 per semester
KILO BITE: 10 Premium Swipes, 20 Regular Swipes, 10 Snack Swipes, 1 Guest Meal $550 per semester
As shown, the new plans all work on a per-semester basis, so there will no longer be any plans that grant a certain amount of swipes every week. Meal periods are also being eliminated entirely to accompany the new per-semester plans, allowing students more flexibility to use multiple swipes at once if needed, rather than being restricted to one swipe per meal period. The plans also come with an average price increase. Comparing the lowest and highest plans of last year to their new equivalents, the old Platinum plan was $3,300, included unlimited access to Pierce, 8 guest meals, and 20 meal exchange swipes per week, whereas the new Terra Bite plan costs $230 more and includes the swipe breakdown shown above. The old Gray plan costed $225 and included 20 swipes to either Pierce or the meal exchange vendors, while the new Kilo Bite plan costs $325 more and includes an additional 10 premium swipes and 10 snack swipes on top of the existing 20 regular swipes.
In previous years, it was possible to calculate the exact dollar value of meal swipes, but the cost distribution of the new plans is less clear. For example, last year’s Bronze plan was $830 for 70 swipes, or $11.86 per swipe. Assuming guest and regular swipes are still worth about the same at $12 per swipe, and guessing that a snack swipe is worth half of that at $6 per swipe (a Resident Assistant (RA) told The Stute that students should be able to trade two snack swipes for a regular swipe, as was told to them at an internal meeting, providing a reasonable basis for this guess. All RAs consulted for this piece will be kept anonymous, because they feared repercussions for talking to The Stute), it would seem like premium swipes are worth approximately $30 per swipe when analyzing the Mega Bite plan ((1600-73*12-45*6)/15) = 30.267). If snack swipes are guessed to be worth two-thirds of a regular swipe at $8 per swipe, than premium swipes would seem to be worth $24.25 per swipe. These numbers notably do not hold true when analyzing other plans. At $12 per regular/guest swipe and $6 per snack swipe, the Terra Bite plan would suggest that premium swipes are worth $3. At the same guessed prices, the math for the Giga Bite plan comes out to $12.50 per premium swipe, and $23.80 per premium swipe for the Kilo Bite plan. This seems to indicate that the higher tier plans are more cost-effective when only considering the price per swipe. To verify that theory, the cost of each plan was divided by the total number of swipes it offers, and those numbers are shown in the table below. Of course this is all speculation as Ballantyne said that the different swipes do not translate to particular dollar amounts.
When asked if residents of all Stevens Housing facilities will still be required to purchase a meal plan, despite the fact that the cheapest plan has more than doubled in price, Ballantyne said, “all students who choose to live in Stevens Housing (leased or on campus) are required to select a meal plan. While the lowest meal plan option has increased in price, the value of that plan has increased significantly. Leased Housing residents will be able to use their meal plans more often on Washington Street due to the expansion of that program.” This policy drew criticism when it was first implemented three years ago, inspiring then-student Patrick Murray to start a petition urging the school to allow Stevens Leased Housing (SLH) residents to purchase $300 worth of DuckBills instead (the lowest plan at the time cost $350.) The petition argued that DuckBills would be more useful to students living far from campus, since they could be used at both the many restaurants in Hoboken that accept them and Stevens Dining establishments. The petition managed to gather over 600 signatures. Other students argued that SLH residents should not be required to purchase a meal plan since the program’s apartments all include full kitchens and students could feasibly cook or purchase all of their own meals. The Student Government Association at the time then released a proclamation announcing its support for the petition and urged the school to adopt the DuckBills option, but both went unanswered. With the inclusion of premium swipes, the Kilo Bite plan will allow SLH students to use their meal plans on Washington Street, similarly to if they had DuckBills, but only for those 10 premium swipes. This was also the topic of a SITTV Roving Reporter production at the time, where almost all of the students interviewed by SITTV expressed frustration with the policy. One frustrated student, Joseph Villani, told The Stute, “the new [cheapest] meal plan is more than double the price of the previous one with not enough to show for it; there is no explanation as far as the cost breakdown of the different swipes. I’m tired of being forced into purchasing meal plans that I barely use and ultimately waste. The SLH policy requiring one to purchase a meal plan is truly infantilizing and is quite possibly just a cash grab.”
Going along with this new set of plans, RAs will no longer be granted the top tier plan. In the past, RAs were granted the unlimited platinum plan for free as part of their compensation, but going forward they will only be granted the second tier Giga Bite plan. According to one RA, the school was previously being granted a discount that allowed it to pay the second tier price for the RAs’ first-tier plans. That discount is apparently no longer part of Stevens’ contract with Compass One, causing the shift to the second tier plan, but The Stute was unable to fully verify this tip. Another RA shared their thoughts on this change. “So off the bat I’ll let you know that I, and many others [other RAs], think it’s some total b******t that they’re changing the meal plans and whatnot. In a more technical note, they’ve given us literally no official explanation as to why they’re changing them and why RAs and RDs [Residential Directors] aren’t getting the maximum. The new meal plan we get comes out to an average of 2.38 meals a day when you add up ALL the possible swipes. And snack swipes aren’t a real meal [excluding breakfast at Pierce], so we’re really losing a lot of actual food here. It also currently is a stipend of $3450 for food but the new plan were getting is only worth $2650 so they’re cutting our already limited ‘pay’ by about $800 and giving us no real compensation in place of it. Just feels pretty lame that we’re supposed to just not eat a full 3 meals a day and I know personally that a lot of RAs need the meal plan to actually afford to eat, which is pretty ridiculous that they’re just gutting it like this. This coupled with the fact that the cheapest meal option is now $550 it just feels as if the school is trying to screw the students over more, even the ones it actively employs.”
Finally, when asked if she had anything else about the new plans or their goals that she would like to share, Ballantyne said, “we have met with several focus groups of students to get feedback about the new meal plans and have made adjustments accordingly. The innovative new meal plans have received an overwhelmingly positive response from students. These more flexible meal plans with more flexible hours allow students to eat how and when they like.”
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