Rachel Barter ’27

by Rachel Barter ’27 on November 13, 2025

---

Even though I find food at Alumni Dining that I like well-enough and is eligible for a meal swipe, I think it is frustrating for the foods that I love at Alumni to be, seemingly purposefully, left off the eligibility list. For instance, my favorite food at Alumni is the burrito bowl. This is not eligible for a meal swipe, so once a week I treat myself to a burrito bowl that is around $10 and half of my weekly budget of Friar Bucks, given I often start with around $300  worth and there are about 15ish weeks of school before the end of the semester rolls around and my Friar Bucks are replenished. 

Oftentimes, I find myself wanting a burrito bowl, but trying to stay within my weekly budget, so I look for the next best item; the closest item to a burrito bowl which is eligible for a meal swipe is a quesadilla. However, we are only allowed to use a meal swipe for a quesadilla if it is cheese or veggie. If I opt for this option, I am not going to get any protein or real nutritional value out of this meal, unless I use my side to get an assorted cup of grapes and pepperoni or hummus and naan. 

So, not only do I ask myself why I cannot use a meal swipe to get a burrito bowl, I have to wonder why I am not allowed to get a chicken quesadilla when a cheese quesadilla is an option for meal swipes.

If I want nutritional value for lunch using a meal swipe at Alumni, I typically move on to the salad and sandwich station. I will admit that I do not like salad, so for people who are not as picky eaters as I am, you may have better luck at this station when it comes to getting food that is eligible for a meal swipe. I thus opt for the sandwich which is already limited to ham or turkey, which is okay because I like ham. The problem with this meal exchange item lies within the size of the sandwich and a potential limit of toppings.

 Last year, the meal swipe option was a six inch sub or an equivalent size of a sandwich on regular bread; now, the sandwiches are only offered on four inch sub rolls. I have also ordered a sandwich and have been limited to the toppings that I put on the sandwich presumably because I am using a meal swipe. This is also true for other stations, including the burger station. All I wanted was a ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce and yellow mustard, but mayonnaise was the only option I was given, so I declined and ate a dry sandwich.

Furthermore, with every meal plan except for the “Ultimate Flex Dining” meal plan, students are only allotted 10 meal swipes at Alumni, which excludes Eaton Street Cafe and the Diane Parrett RN Cafe. 

With such heavy restrictions on what qualifies as a meal-swipe-eligible item, as well as where each meal swipe can be spent, it is hard not to wonder why the college is so restrictive. Unfortunately, the only answer I could come up with is that the college is trying to save money by having meal swipes comp only subpar amounts and varieties of food, in addition to creating such restrictions so students are forced to pay with Friar Bucks, load more Friar Bucks, and leave many meal swipes unclaimed each week, thus leaving money on the table for the college to keep. 

I want to acknowledge that this paints the college in an unflattering light, but I cannot otherwise fathom why the college would place such restrictions, especially on toppings and location, if it was not trying to turn a greater profit. Don’t get me wrong, though I am very grateful for the options we do have and the amazing staff that works day after day to keep us all fed and fueled for our grueling days, I think the college has significant room for improvement on their current meal swipe system.

To improve our current meal swipe structure without astronomically increasing the cost to the college, I would allow students to choose any topping on the designated meal swipe eligible food items, give students 10 weekly meal swipes while broadening their usage to include all three locations mentioned above, and give students the option to use two meal swipes for a “pricier” food item that is not typically eligible for a meal swipe, like a burrito bowl. This is how Providence College can find a better and practical balance between the wants and needs of the students and the financial gain of restricting meal swipe options.

Students deserve to have fulfilling, enjoyable meals using the meal swipes that they pay for each semester and are often left on the table.