Most Augustana College students use a meal plan on campus. This means that they can swipe for food in the dining hall and a variety of other locations on campus. However, there is no convenient way to track the use of meal swipes or Viking Bucks, meaning that the school should provide a method to view them as needed.

Many students view meal plans as a natural part of the college experience. They are cost-efficient, convenient and are usually required for first-year students who live on campus. These plans vary in price, with lower-cost plans having fewer swipes and Viking Bucks.

Brian O’Connell, an author and former Wall Street bond contributor, said, “It’s up to the college student to know how many swipes are left on their meal plan card. The idea is to max out perfectly on the number of swipes you’re allowed on a daily, weekly, monthly or semester basis.” 

It’s easy to say that planning out your use of meal swipes following your chosen plan is a crucial element in using it. This ensures that you can “max out” your swipes and Viking Bucks without having any left over at the end of the semester. Since meal swipes and Viking Bucks do not roll over, those that are unused are essentially a waste of money. 

This means that it is important to find a plan that suits your needs on campus so that you do not have any extra swipes or are lacking them. 

On Augustana’s Dining Plan FAQs for students page, “Meal plan account balances can be checked by asking a cashier at any dining location or by calling or stopping in at the Dining Services Office.” 

While some may argue that being able to check with a Dining Services cashier is convenient when you are on your way to grab a meal, this is not the case. 

Students may have no swipes and have to do the walk of shame away from the register, but they might not be able to check since they are in a hurry, and there may be a long line at the dining location.

I would argue that this way of checking your account balance is inconvenient. It involves going out of your way to ask a cashier at a dining service location or to the Dining Services Office. There are also factors such as low balance or time constraints, which further contribute to the inconvenience of only being able to monitor your meal swipes or Viking Bucks in this way.

This makes it difficult to efficiently use your Viking Bucks or meal swipes as intended because you are not able to check your balance in a way that is easy or convenient, and as a result, you cannot manage them.

With this in mind, it would be easier for students to be able to view and manage their meal swipes and Viking Bucks in a campus-run website or portal. This could be an add-on to the student page where you select your meal plan, listing your remaining balance helping you to view it without going to another location.

This would prevent the inconvenience that we currently have when checking and prevent the embarrassment of walking away swipeless from a dining location. 

Augustana College’s Meal Plans for 2022-23 page says,  “Plans include a set number of meals and Viking Bucks, which are electronically loaded onto your student ID. Whenever the card is used (swiped), your meal plan account balance is automatically debited.” 

Your student ID acts similarly to a debit card as it is automatically debited when swiped and has a pre-set amount. This could likely be reflected in a website format similar to a bank account. 

A website or portal add-on would be a welcome addition to the current student meal plan system. Doing this would be more convenient for students compared to the current means of checking your account. Managing their meal transactions would also become more efficient and easy so students can budget their transactions.