Student Government is holding a Town Hall to discuss the changes to the food debit policy. Student Government president, Taylor Deer, Vice President Sarah Thomas and Director of Student Relations, Anthony Hennig, will be joined by Charleen McMahon, Kory Samuels, Executive Director of Dining Services, and Howard Ward, Assistant VP of Student Auxiliary Services.

They will be answering questions, concerns and comments dealing with the new food debit policy that has gone into effect as of January 6th. The new policy allows debit to only be used on food and drink only. This change has been made due a tax policy.

Follow along with us as we discuss the changes. This blog will be updating live and will be available afterwards as well.

Samuels: Director of Dining Services as on Nov. 1st. Basics of the decision: was going through the policies and found that what was being allowed to purchase through the university meal plan may have been outside of the guidelines set forward by NY state. Met with Student Government on 12/19. Had just made the decision to switch the policy to follow the guidelines on the 12/18

Ward: We tried to look for a way to push this into the spring quarter. There was no way to negotiate this until the Spring quarter or later. We knew it was going to be difficult but there was nothing we could do.

Samuels: This policy had been in place previously but it morphed over the years, because the idea of “necessity” was unclear. We did tax the non food items, but it still falls out of line with the guidelines. Also discovered that there was no precedent for $59.88. Most other schools made you forfeit the leftover or allow it to roll over whatever amount is left to the next semester. RIT chose to continue the roll over.

Student: What was the decision making process behind these decisions?

Ward: Tried to share as much information as I had as possible. We learned from whenever we implemented new security to listen to the students and to take into consideration your opinions and what you have to say. We can’t change the law, but what can we do to help off set the sting of this? We want your business.

Student: Have there been talks of possible changes to the styles of debit plans? Will/can the meal plans be adjusted?

Ward: We’ve already looked at adjusting the debit plan. We’re nonprofit but we need to met our budget line. If we do certain things, we could lose half a million dollars. So we’re working with higher management to help this. We’re looking for creative solutions, from you, on how to fix this.

Samuels: Lots of students have sent suggestions. People have been asking for more information and sharing ideas when the decision first came out. Debit ideas have been can you offer a plan with a mix of debit and Tiger Bucks. We have different tiers for commuter plans but not necessarily when it comes to residence halls.

Ward: We want to get to you as quickly possible. It will take time to process, but we want to get back to you quickly.

Samuels: We do offer more plan options than most schools. This makes for a lot more issues that pop up along the way.

Student: What’s being done in the immediate time frame? Is there a time frame where we can expect things to be implemented?

Samuels: The only immediate concession was the allowing rollover. As for more transportation to get students off campus to purchase more items, Parking and Transportation is being contacted. We hope to have changes within a few weeks, definitely by the end of the quarter.

Ward: We want to be as generous as we can, without breaking the law. We want to wrap this up and get this working as soon as possible for you guys.

Samuels: We don’t want you to think we’re being dismissive. We want to make sure we’re hearing you and making sure you know we hear you. I have spreadsheets with ideas and are presenting them as he gets the feedback.

Student: I assume we’re not the only universities that sell shampoo and other necessities. Have you looked into a “campus wide” debit plan that would allow purchasing these?

Samuels: We’re looking at our pricing strategy, making sure we’re comparing apples to apples. The biggest thing I hear about is shampoo prices. We’ve been comparing them to other Hess and FastTracs. They’re more comparative because they’re convenience stores. But we’re also looking at the prices at Wegmans and Target prices to make sure we’re in line. We don’t want to squeeze ever cent out of you. We’re going to look very very in to detail.

Ward: We may be able to do it later down the line, but not at this time with the money already in it’s current state.

McMahon: Check out other universities pricing. Some have stores that only sell the non food items so there’s not question about what we can spend our money on etc.
I grew up with the development of the Tigerbucks and the debit plans in response to the students. We’re also looking into how the semester will change buying patterns, etc. to fit you better, but we also need to study that when we come to it.

Ward: We are looking to make immediate changes though too. We don’t have to wait until semesters to change some things.

Student: Would it possible to implement an all Tigerbucks meal plan?

Ward: As of now, no. Since we can use Tigerbucks off campus, there’s logistically things that come into play, but we’ll definitely look into it and see if we can make changes. Right now, if you paid everything with Tigerbucks, you’d be paying more.

Student: Could we lower the overall amount of debit? We have tons of rollover as it is, and with the new rollover plan, we might be left with a ton of debit left at the end of stay here?

Samuels: We’ve been trying to figure out which plans are impacted most like you’re saying. Each plan is different so when we look at it overall, it looks like the amount students are spending on non food, is miniscule. Once we look at individual plans we see that those students are spending much more than others on non food items.

Student: How much money do students blow through during week seven, eight?

Samuels: We look at the spending through weeks 1-8 and also from week 8 to the end of the quarter. We’re looking at it quarterly and we want to figure out where the sweet spot is so we can give you the right amount. We don’t want to give you too little or too much. The meal plans are broken down to be able to use $19 a day. Some students it’s too much, for some it’s too little. The structure of location also plays into it. We only have one main dining hall.

Student: The time frame has made it need to happen really quickly, with the rapid change what kind of coordination is being done to make health needs (medicine, contraceptives etc.) that students may have gone to the Corner Store to pick up?

Samuels: We need to put out there that you can get contraceptives at the health center and other areas on campus, not just the stores.

Student: Would there be a change in the mandatory status of needing a meal plan in residence hall?

Ward: That wouldn’t be changing. Since there isn’t a kitchen or anything, that won’t be changing.

Samuels: There are different tiers though.

Student: Have you thought of offering different food items? For instance, Global Village Market offers fresh produce, have we looking into adding more options to attract more people to the meal plans?

Samuels: Absolutely. We’re looking at convenience stores adding new lines and even our production units. We’re going to try and roll them out as quickly as possible to give you as many option.

Ward: We’re also looking at offering locations with longer hours too. We’d like to have your feedback about these things. For instance, your feedback on Midnight Oil.

Student: I see this really hurting upperclassmen the most. They only have so many options available to them. Are there any possibilities for options? Also, will the only accepting cash to a certain point be changing?

Samuels: Yes. We’ve changed that policy. They now accept money until they close. Check it out! There are some options for upperclassmen but they’re the 10, 12, 14 and unlimited plans and not a lot of upperclassmen chose those ones.

Student: (On Co-Op, not spending much time on campus but lives in dorms with 1,500 plan) Since whatever amount is left can be rolled over, will there be a lower price for spring?

McMahon: If you’re on Co-Op, we can make concessions. Also, if you live on campus or you’ve received a Pell Grant, make an appointment and we discuss the changes.

Student: It’s pretty difficult to eat vegetarian on campus, when will be see some of the suggestions we made dealing with product options for us? And with Sol offering a lot of non food items, will they be re-stocking the store based on needs?

Samuels: Definitely send along any suggestions. We definitely want to offer more vegan and vegetarian options. As for Sol’s we’re going to be monitoring and see how the buying habits there will go. Any suggestions please send them along. We will listen and looking into them and try to implement. The more feedback we get, the less guesswork we have to do when it comes to giving you what you want. January 18th, we’re meeting with all the schools in the area at Cornell to discuss strictly vegan and vegetarian options on campus.

Ward: We’re looking all different options, like bringing in visiting chefs who do upscale vegetarian and vegan options. These could be immediate.

Student: What is the fate of these stores on campus that primarily non food items?

Samuels: It’s hard to say right now, but it could be reevaluate and restructure the stores. Its definitely a wait and see. I’m looking at the financials frequently and meeting with my staff frequently as well to monitor the situation. It’s definitely a challenging time but an opportunity to change up.

Ward: Again, please send feedback and suggestions to us. Come up and introduce yourself and say hello!

Deer: We called this meeting to get as much feedback as possible to make the plans as best as possible. There’s only 50-60 of you here now, but there’s thousand of students that are on meal plans. Tell your friends, ask them for suggestions, tell us and we’ll get in contact and pass it on. Let us know!

Ward: One of the reasons we hired Kory was because he’s not 50 years old. He’s been awesome at interpreting what you guys want so don’t be afraid to reach out to you.