Diego De Jesus | Sept. 1, 2022 12:33 p.m.
News Editor
This fall, Florida Southern College announced changes to its meal plan, including a cancellation of “rollover” points and an increase in the amount students receive per meal plan.
Instead of the maximum meal plan capped at 120 Snake Bite points, it’s been increased to 160 points, that each Snake Bite is the equivalent to one U.S. dollar, according to a newsletter.
With this change rollover points—unspent points that would transfer over to the next week’s balance—have been discontinued.
Tim Raible, the Director of Food Service, wanted to clarify the misunderstanding about rollover by explaining the concept of Flex Dollars.
“To give students some cushion, we introduced Flex Dollars that they can use should they run out of Snake Bites,” Raible said. “Flex dollars are given for the entire semester to use when exceeding the weekly allotment of Snake Bites. It’s sort of like an insurance policy there when you need it but once used, you must wait until next semester to get more.”
With these new changes to the Snake Bite, students will be paying $50 more per semester for a 20-meal plan while receiving 40 more Snake Bites per week. This meal plan is a requirement for first-year students, according to the College’s website.
“We researched other schools and none of them gave students the total flexibility of using their Snake Bites at all Food Service Locations on Campus as we do,” Raible said. “We felt that this was an important aspect of our Meal Plan and fought to keep it that way even though other schools limit what can be used outside their Main Dining Room or Cafeteria.”
Carter Cruise is a senior Accounting and Finance double major who is in support of the change.
“I think the plan works well. Though there is no rollover, students have more options for meal plan options, and 160 is usually more than the 120 plus rollover,” Cruise said. “It addressed the issue that some people need more than 120 points in a week since they may not have easy off-campus access.”
While some students support the recent adjustments, others feel like removing rollover from the meal plan is a negative change. Students such as Tim Keller, a junior English major, expressed concerns over the lack of rollover.
“I feel like I’m wasting money on my meal plan since I know I’m bound to have a rollover given that I cook a lot of my own meals,” said Keller. “When I don’t use all my points during a week, it feels like the school is just throwing my money away.”
