Starting next fall WKU will offer a new block meal plan option for students. The option will give students a set number of meal plans for the entire semester.

Steve Hoyng, resident district manager for Aramark, said this change came about because of student complaints. 

“The students requested a meal plan that doesn’t have a set number of plans per week,” he said. “That’s why we came up with it because you can use five meals one week and if you want to use twenty-five the next week you can.”

Hoyng said this issue came to WKU’s attention November and has been working to create a solution since then. Hoyng said he thinks students want options, and something different. 

“We’re kind of curious of how it goes,” he said. “We don’t know how many students will take it.”

The new meal plan will offer 240 meals for the semester and 75 meal plan dollars, according to campus dish’s website. Used evenly this would mean 15 meals a week. This is priced at $1,575. 

The cheapest meal plan option is 10 meals weekly and 50 meal plan dollars which costs students $1,180. The most expensive option is $1,735 and offers 21 meals and 100 meal plan dollars, according to campus dish’s website. 

Hoyng said this idea was approved two weeks ago, and they haven’t gotten any student opinions on it yet. 

“We had a food committee meeting last week and some of the students there thought it was a good idea,” he said. “We’re not sure if it was what they wanted.”

Hoyng said they aren’t entirely sure what students will think.

“We’re still in the beginning stages so we aren’t sure how its going to be accepted yet,” he said. “It’s kind of still up in the air.”

Hoyng said the meal program hasn’t been changed in recent years. 

“It hasn’t been changed a whole lot since 1997,” he said. “There’s been some different plans but they’ve all been meals per week. I wanted to make sure we could have something different.”