The long lines at campus grocery stores and pleas to take upperclassmen to lunch might be coming to an end after the announcement that students with unused blocks will be able to get some of their money back.
According to a Thursday email from Ohio State Dining Services, “at the end of the semester, we will issue a $3.00 credit for each of your unused blocks and post it to your BuckID cash.”
The refund will be credited to students’ BuckID by Dec. 18. One block has a $5 value at campus dining locations.
The university also announced that a smaller meal plan of 350 blocks will be offered for Spring Semester.
The email said the change was in response to “questions about your unused blocks” that had come from many students.
University Student Government President Taylor Stepp said students with excess blocks is a university-wide problem and an issue USG is working to reform.
“For parents, for the kids, for whoever is buying these meal plans this is terrible because they’re not seeing an adequate return on their investment,” Stepp said.
The blocks meal plan is new to OSU this academic year with the semester conversion, and serves as a replacement to the swipes meal plan.
Students were offered three meal plans for Fall Semester: Unlimited, Block-O and Traditional.
The Unlimited plan consists of unlimited meals at traditional dining locations North, Morrill and Kennedy commons and 10 blocks per week at any other campus eatery. The $2,650 plan also came accompanied with a $150 BuckID deposit.
Two options were available under the Block-O plan: a 600-block plan priced at $2,550 and a 450-block plan for $2,175.
The new 350-block plan will be available for $1,850 and, like the other two Block-O plans, will include a $150 BuckID deposit.
The Traditional plan offers students 19 meals week at traditional dining locations such as North, Morrill and Kennedy commons along with two additional blocks per week that can be used at other operations. The Traditional plan does not include any BuckID cash and costs $1,737.50.
Students have been told that the refund system is being applied to the Fall Semester meal plan, but Stepp said he would like to see it continue.
“I have not been told that this refund will stay in place,” Stepp said.
Stepp said USG and the Residence Halls Advisory Council are working to ensure meal plans fit students’ needs.
“We’re going to be doing a lot of delving into exactly how many blocks students are using,” he said.
Keeping education afforadable is one of USG’s central goals this year, he said.
“This is a step in the right direction,” Stepp said.