The end of the semester has students voicing mixed feelings about the new and improved dining options offered at Mississippi State University including some who hope change comes soon.
Not only did the Colvard Student Union and Perry Cafeteria receive much needed renovations, but Aramark food services also joined the MSU family by providing all dining services with a 10-year contract ending in 2017.
The biggest change this year affects freshmen students with mandatory meal plans.
Jason Nall, director of dining services, said there are 2,300 mandatory meal plans in use this semester.
“We have several dining locations that allow students to give feedback on their dining experiences with us and 90 percent of feedback we receive is positive,” Nall said. “We want all students and faculty, including those students with mandatory meal plans, to have a wonderful dining experience and feedback is a key part to continually providing the best services.”
Students’ concerns and praises have ranged from quality of food and expense to the variety of food available at Perry Cafeteria.
Kyle Laymond, freshman elementary education major, said he feels it is too expensive to eat at Perry Cafeteria for those who do not have a meal plan.
“I feel that they [dining services] should make Perry Cafeteria a friendlier place for those who would like to join friends to relax, but not eat,” he said. “If I go to eat and a friend would like to sit and relax with me, but not eat, that friend still has to pay the $8 to sit with me. I don’t think that is very fair and usually steers me away from the cafeteria.”
Other students, such as freshman business major Matthew Hammerbacher, said variety is a concern for him.
“I have classes and sometimes I do not get a chance to eat until after peak lunch hours and the food selections are slim to nothing. I get my choice between maybe three items,” he said.
Freshman students who join Greek organizations, which usually have their own meal plans run into a situation in which they are paying for two meal plans but only using one.
Freshman Greek students are offered a discounted meal plan from the university to complement their Greek house meal plans Nall said.
“After the sorority and fraternity rush periods are over, we receive a list of the students who pledged and at that time change their university meal plans to reduce the cost by around $500, which essentially should come pretty close to what a normal meal plan would cost,” he said.
Mandy Watson, freshman interior design major and Greek student, said it is more of an inconvenience for her to have to pay for both a Greek and university meal plan.
“I eat at the sorority house, but never in the cafeteria,” she said. “My money for the university meal plan and Flex dollars are going to waste I feel.”
Not everything is a complaint however as both renovations have brought a different experience to the campus for students to enjoy.
“I believe the overall experience at the cafeteria is enjoyable,” freshman broadcast journalism major James Carskadon said. “The atmosphere of both the Union and cafeteria are satisfying to me.”
Nall said he understands that for the university and dining services to enjoy many years together, feedback will be a tool to improving the services and quality of the food and atmosphere.
“I expect a significant increase in numbers for meal plans at the end of this year from last year,” he said. “One thing we have thought about doing is changing things up a bit and putting new restaurants in the Union and adding a McAlister’s Deli Express to campus. Our goal is to serve the students and faculty of MSU and we will do everything we can to ensure they have the best dining service to experience.”