It’s my freshman year. I am on my way to grab a coffee and get some work done at the Holy Grounds in Falvey Library. In a moment of freshman naivete, I thought I could use a meal swipe from my unlimited meal plan to acquire my cold brew. 

Boy, was I wrong.

Despite being able to use a meal swipe at the Holy Grounds in the Connelly Center, I could not use one at its location in the library, so I had to dip into my precious reserve of points to pay for my cold brew. 

Flash forward to a couple of days ago. A friend of mine does not have a meal plan this year, since he lives off-campus, and he wanted to freeload off of me to grab a sandwich from Belle Air Terrace. Since Belle Air is a dining hall for all intents and purposes, one would think I could use one of my unlimited meals there.

But, oh boy, was I wrong.

I still had to use points for the sandwich. I subsequently yanked the sandwich out of my friend’s hand and ate it.

According to the “Meal Plan Pricing” page on the Villanova Dining Services website, pricing for meal plans ranges anywhere from $1,265 for the Tier 4 “Commuter” plan which offers five meals per week for the semester, to $4,250 for the Tier 1 “Any Time 7 Day” plan, which offers unlimited meals. Upgrades can also be purchased for $450 or $475 to allow meals to be used at the Exchange in Bartley Hall and/or the Recovery Room in Driscoll Hall.

“Meal Swipes can be used in our all-you-care-to-eat dining hall locations, Donahue (South Campus), Dougherty (Main Campus) or St. Mary’s (West Campus),” the website claims.

Meal Plans also come with varying levels of MPEs (Meal Plan Express) which can be used at Cafe Nova, Belle Air, Second Storey, the Law School Cafe, the Exchange and select Holy Grounds locations. MPEs have maximum values between $7.50 and $8.50 depending on time and location. 

For everything and everywhere else, one must use points or Nova Bucks.

The intricacies of Villanova’s meal plan system are overly complex and very confusing. It would make sense to have a segment of freshman orientation dedicated to explaining the meal plans, but according to orientation counselor Ryan Hartnett, there is no such thing. 

Even after living under the system for over two years, I still am unsure where I can use the actual meal swipes versus where I have to use an MPE.

If I can use an MPE at the Connelly Holy Grounds, why can I not use one at the Falvey location? Why do I, as an unlimited plan holder, have a max of 14 MPEs per week, while somebody who only holds the 21-meal Meal Plan can use two MPEs per meal period for the whole week? And things which should be able to count as a normal meal, such as sandwiches from Belle Air or Second Story, are counted as MPEs. This system leaves other students and me with a lot more questions than answers.

Because I have such a busy class schedule and am deeply involved in club activities, I often find myself short on time to eat my meals. I would much rather go to Holy Grounds to grab a bagel, banana and cold brew for breakfast than go to a dining hall for a traditionally hearty breakfast. Getting a bowl from Café Nova or a sandwich from Second Story is a much more reliable, quick option for lunch than taking a gamble that there will be something good in one of the dining halls. 

Villanova’s meal plan system could be vastly improved if MPEs were abandoned and whatever purpose they hold was rolled into the standard meal swipe. The revamped meal swipes could then be used everywhere that standard meals and MPEs are able to be used now. 

This change would eliminate much of the complexity and confusion about how often we can grub at certain locations. 

I would also suggest standardizing meal acceptance across all Holy Grounds locations. Aside from the Commons location, they all sell the same products, so I don’t understand why we cannot just use meals at all of them.

These adjustments would ensure that every student with a meal plan can get the maximum value out of their investment and leave us all less confused when dining service workers inform us we are out of meals when we swear we just had a bunch left.