Spring Break
Dining changes good for students, if good for university budget
Issue date: 8/25/09 Section: Opinions
Housing and Dining Services completed a survey last fall to ask students what changes they would like to see with the operation of the dining centers.
More than half of the surveys came back with a desire for more serving hours so students could have more times to eat.
These students' requests have been answered with an extra 21.5 hours of dining opportunity starting this semester.
This comes as both good and bad news.
With more opportunity to eat, more students will be able to take advantage of their meal plan and enjoy the meals they are allotted each week but this will call for more shifts and possibly more employees to fill these shifts.
The next question is - how much more money will this cost the university to pay for the extra shifts?
These numbers will not be seen for a couple weeks but one can assume it will make a difference. Whether or not this will hurt the budget of the Housing and Dining Services is yet to be seen. Though, with minimum wage at nearly $8 per hour and 21.5 more hours to employ full serving lines and kitchens, there may be an effect on the budget that may hurt the service in the long run.
While this may not be the best time economically to add so many hours, it is still a better plan when compared to some of the other schools in the state.
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale's dining services has four dining centers open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with one that stays open until midnight during the week.
By comparison, Eastern has an extra hour with Late Night Pizza served in Thomas until 1 a.m.
On the weekends, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale's dining centers do not serve breakfast and open at 11 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.
Now, Eastern also offers more hours on the weekend with breakfast now beginning at 10 a.m. and Late Night Pizza served Sundays until 1 a.m. again.
When deciding to fill out a survey, many students might wonder if anyone looks at the information and uses the results in any positive way.
More than half of the surveys came back with a desire for more serving hours so students could have more times to eat.
These students' requests have been answered with an extra 21.5 hours of dining opportunity starting this semester.
This comes as both good and bad news.
With more opportunity to eat, more students will be able to take advantage of their meal plan and enjoy the meals they are allotted each week but this will call for more shifts and possibly more employees to fill these shifts.
The next question is - how much more money will this cost the university to pay for the extra shifts?
These numbers will not be seen for a couple weeks but one can assume it will make a difference. Whether or not this will hurt the budget of the Housing and Dining Services is yet to be seen. Though, with minimum wage at nearly $8 per hour and 21.5 more hours to employ full serving lines and kitchens, there may be an effect on the budget that may hurt the service in the long run.
While this may not be the best time economically to add so many hours, it is still a better plan when compared to some of the other schools in the state.
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale's dining services has four dining centers open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with one that stays open until midnight during the week.
By comparison, Eastern has an extra hour with Late Night Pizza served in Thomas until 1 a.m.
On the weekends, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale's dining centers do not serve breakfast and open at 11 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.
Now, Eastern also offers more hours on the weekend with breakfast now beginning at 10 a.m. and Late Night Pizza served Sundays until 1 a.m. again.
When deciding to fill out a survey, many students might wonder if anyone looks at the information and uses the results in any positive way.
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