A working group that includes students, administrators, and Eating Club leadership is developing the pilot program for the spring 2023 semester. At the request of students, six more undergraduate students have been added to the working group, for a total of 11 students. The executive sponsors for the pilot program are Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun and Vice President for University Services Chad Klaus.

The concept of “five flexible meals per week” emerged in the spring of 2022. Meetings with students in the spring, summer, and fall have helped shape the pilot program. At the recommendation of students, options for the “five flexible meals” have expanded to include late meal, Frist, University cafes, and the concession stands at Athletic venues. 

Selected students can participate in the Dining Pilot from February 27 through April 30. 

Students selected as Dining Pilot participants will be notified via email during the week of February 20.

The pilot is being designed so that five flexible meals can be used at the Eating Clubs, Co-ops, and residential dining halls, as well as at Frist (for late meal), Witherspoon's, Café Vivian, Atrium Café, Chancellor Green Café, Chemistry CaFé, EQuad Café, Genomics Café, Shultz Café, Studio ’34, Tiger Tea Room, and concession stands at Athletic games. 

• Students in the pilot will be allocated five meals per week. These meals will be in addition to their current dining selection (i.e. eating club, co-op, dining plan holder).  

For information on how the five flexible meals will work, please visit the Participants page.

Yes, pilot participants will be still be eligible to participate in meal exchange. For pilot participants, the five flexible meals will initially be used when eating at a different venue. If all of the available flexible meals have been used, the pilot participant will then be required to use meal exchange to eat at a different venue.

Pilot program participants who are in an eating club will also use meal exchange at all times to host first and second-year students, as well as upperclass students who are not in the pilot program.

When using meal exchange, pilot participants will need to complete it with one of their regular meals, and not with a flexible meal, within 30 days.

The Co-ops and Eating Clubs are currently determining the criteria for meals during the pilot. Each venue will be able to determine their own limits, if any, by meal. The University does not anticipate the need for limits or reservations at University venues during the pilot program. There may be “members only” meals where certain venues are offline for guests.

Pilot participants will be permitted to use their five flexible meals at the campus retail venues that are included in the pilot program. A cash credit allowance of $9.00 per meal will be available for these meals. Similar to late meal, some restrictions may apply.

Five flexible meals per week will be made available to students participating in the pilot. Unused meals will not roll over from one week to future weeks.

The goal is to include more than 10 percent of juniors and seniors in the pilot program, to ensure that we have a sizable number of participants from each dining option. There will be no cost to students to participate in the pilot program. The University will reimburse the Co-ops and Eating Clubs for pilot program guest meals.

No Contact and No Communication Orders will continue to apply to students participating in the pilot program.

A pre-pilot assessment will be sent to all juniors and seniors during the week of February 13.

After the pilot ends, the working group will use usage data, surveys, and other qualitative data to assess the program. The working group will share with the University community the results of the pilot after analyzing traffic/use data provided by the Clubs, Co-ops, and Campus Dining and surveys from students.

The pilot program and findings of the working group will help the University determine what, if any, elements of this initiative are worth pursuing. The fall of 2024 is the earliest that the University would make changes to the dining options for juniors and seniors. The University does not know at this time what, if any, financial impact there would be for students.

The working group will continue to update this website with more information in the months ahead; students are welcome to share feedback through the form on this site.

We will also host, in coordination with the USG, an in-person information session for Dining Pilot participants at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 23, at Robertson Hall (100 Arthur Lewis Auditorium Lecture Hall B).