The Omnibus

Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: Forum

Media Credit: Brendan Block This sign was posted outside of the Cat Snack window to restrict customers from using all of their Bearcat Bucks. The first sighting of the sign was on Thursday, Dec. 6.

Perhaps one of the most poignant issues when conversing with students is they unanimously support that Bearcat Bucks given to them on their 20 meal plan should roll over.
By "roll over" I mean that if a student has 50 Bearcat Bucks and spends only 35 in one semester, they should have the remainder of that cash balance still in the meal account for their next semester in school.
Many students do not see the disappearing Bearcat Bucks the same way that they see their meal plan.
If you give someone Bearcat Bucks or actual cash balance towards something, they should not expire until you spend them, right?
The situation at the end of the last semester was difficult to sit through seeing so many students having their unspent Bearcat Bucks liquidated at the end of the semester.
Adding more difficulty, many students did not know that the unused Bearcat Bucks do not stay with the student from semester to semester.
I think the University should be either more informative by stressing that if a student does not use up all of his/her Bearcat Bucks in a given semester that they will disappear or that we become accommodating by letting the Bearcat Bucks roll over.
Sophomore Melissa Stephens is concerned that many students are not informed enough about the finite Bearcat Bucks.
"A lot of students have the 20 meal plan but do not know that they have Bearcat Bucks," said Stephens. "They need to be more informative on where Bearcat Bucks can be used and that they do expire at the end of the semester."
Although the "roll over" plan seems like fair solution to students, Dennis Owens, director of food services, put this issue in a broader, more practical perspective. "It is a meal plan," said Owens. "You buy it for a period of time and the Bearcat Bucks are used as an incentive to buy the 20 meal plan. When the meal plan expires so do the Bearcat Bucks. We are giving students the extra [Bearcat] money to entice them to buy the 20 meal plan, the unused money goes towards food quality and the cafeteria."

Continued...

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