The Solution

Our primary solution is to add an On the Go! to the Union Food Court. This would enable students to utilize the their meal swipes and take advantage of a meal plan that's already paid for.

Director of Dining Jill Irvin states in an email that "the union serves a very different group of people than do the dining courts. Their (the Union's) primary customer is the off-campus student; ours (the dining court) is the on-campus student."

The fact that the Union serves mostly off campus students is exactly why it's so difficult for on-campus students. They find themselves on the south side have no way of using their meal swipes at the Union.

When asked if there were any solutions to this problem, Irvin responded "On the Go! provides students who may not have the time to get back to the dining courts at lunch a way to grab a meal to eat later."

An On the Go! in the Union would allow students to responsibly spend meal swipes that they've already paid for.

In order to make an On the Go! in the Union a reality, there would have to be several events that take place. First off, enough people would have to voice their opinion to Union and Purdue officials for them to be motivated enough to fix the situation. Next, there would have to be funds allocated by the university itself and a budget would have to be set for installation, upkeep, maintaining stock of food items, salaries of employees, ect. Lastly, either a vacant room would have to be refurbished, or some sort of renovation to the dining area would have to take place.

The Issue

If you spend a lot of time on the south side of campus, or you have a hectic lunchtime schedule, it can be difficult to find options in terms of lunch.

All the food courts are mostly confined to the north and west sides of campus, as the map to the left shows (dining courts are highlighted in red and On the Go locations are outlined in blue).The only dining option on the south side is the Union. While the food court in the Union offers a wide variety of choices, the problem comes with paying for them.

You could use your credit or debit card, but small things like meals add up. Nellie Mae reports that the average amount of credit card debt held by college graduates is $2,700, so the last thing you want to do is add to that potential debt by purchasing every lunch with a credit card.

Then comes the option of dining dollars. With the purchase of a meal plan, there's a set amount of dining dollars that can be used per semester. That amount varies by which meal plan you purchase.

However, dining dollars are capped at $25. This poses a problem for those who eat lunch on the south side of campus. While many people would like to use their dining dollars, many can't because they've reached the limit for the semester. Those without dining dollars are left with few options.