I’m not the first to complain about Moravian’s dining experience, and I won’t be the last, but for all its flaws, I don’t think it’s quite as bad as everyone says it is.
That said, the meal plans themselves need some revision. As they currently stand, some aren’t that great, and others are flat-out worse than the other options. There are essentially two different branches of meal plans. One branch includes plans where you have unlimited swipes, and the other branch has plans where you are given a certain amount of swipes to the Star and Clewell.
I think the Hound Unlimited Plan is fine for what it is. It has infinite swipes from Sunday dinner to Friday lunch and $450 dining dollars.
The Gold Unlimited Plan is just a complete ripoff. It comes with infinite swipes seven days a week, but it only comes with $300 dining dollars, and it’s almost $400 more expensive. As it stands, I see absolutely no reason to get the Gold plan. The Hound Unlimited plan may restrict swipes on weekends, but almost every student would take more dining dollars to get B&G and DeLight’s any day, and the extra $150 helps bridge the gap on weekends anyway. I feel like if you are paying for what is supposed to be the premium plan, you should at least have all the benefits of the default plan first.
My main issue lies with the meal plans with limited swipes. The Hound 200 Plan costs the same amount as the Hound Unlimited Plan and includes 200 swipes and $350 dining dollars. Unless you are eating at the Star multiple times every single day, there is absolutely no reason to get this plan, in my opinion. You get less money for the better dining places on campus, and you get more swipes than you realistically need unless you just really like the salad bar.
If you have a kitchen, you can pick two other plans, Silver and Bronze. I think these are by far the best plans because they have a decent amount of both swipes and dining dollars while also being the cheapest plans.
The Silver Plan comes with 150 swipes and $400 dining dollars, and the Bronze Plan comes with 125 swipes and $570 dining dollars. Part of me understands why these are only available for people with kitchens, but to be honest, with the Bronze Plan, I can go to the Star every single weekday of the semester and still have over 40 swipes left over.
My biggest problem with dining plans that are limited to swipes is not every meal is worth the same amount of money, and you can only use swipes in the Star.
In the Star and Clewell, breakfast costs $8, lunch costs $12.25, and dinner costs $14.25. That means that you get less value out of a swipe if you are getting breakfast than if you are getting dinner. Why should a meal for $8 and another for $14.25 both be valued the same under these limited swipes?
I think to make the limited swipe plans more enticing (especially the Hound 200 Plan), you should be allowed to use swipes in the Star but also other campus restaurants like B&G and DeLight’s.
If you use a swipe at these locations, it would essentially be like a gift card by removing $12 from the total balance. This way, these plans are much more enticing, especially for people who prefer the other dining options on campus. Obviously, this couldn’t be used on either of the unlimited plans for pretty obvious reasons though. Moravian used to allow this system before but for some reason, it was changed to the current plans.
Since the Star and Clewell have all-you-can-eat food, you still technically get more value there, but I think students should at least get the option to choose where they use their swipes.
