Hot meal or raw deal?

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Jennifer Etsitty/Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshmen Chris Lambert (left) and Nate Weissharr (far right), both undeclared majors, provide service with a smile from the all-you-can-eat Union Club buffet on the third floor of the Memorial Student Union yesterday evening. In an effort to boost food-service profits, the UA is offering a new "cafeteria-style" meal plan for frequent on-campus diners.

But some University of Arizona students say they don't like the plan because of its limited flexibility and lack of significant discounts.

Implemented Aug. 23, the UA's new Union Club Meal Plan is geared toward dorm-dwelling students, who can buy into the program for $750 a semester. Participants receive $150 worth of "All Aboard" credit on their CatCards and 400 meal "points," Dining Services Director David Galbraith said.

All Aboard allows diners to transfer cash value to their CatCards, which can then be used to buy food at on-campus eateries.

Under the new plan, cardholders also receive 400 points worth $1.50 each, which can be used only in the Park Student Union and the Union Club, on the Memorial Student Union's third floor.

Using their CatCard as a meal card, students will "pay" two points for breakfast, three for lunch or weekend brunch and four for dinner.

Galbraith said unless a student signs up for a full year, points do not carry over to the next semester and therefore must be used or forfeited.

Under both the new and old plans, participants do not pay sales tax.

Some students criticized the new plan's restrictions and said there is not enough incentive to use it.

"Usually you have to throw in some kind of savings," said Dave Stone, an ecology graduate student. "You're losing flexibility and locked into being a Union Club customer, so why bother?"

Freshman Jamie Theis, an undeclared major, had similar concerns.

"I probably wouldn't choose it," Theis said. "If you're paying all that money, why should you have to spend it all in one place?"

Previously, the Union Club - available to staff, faculty and students - has been open only during lunch hours Monday through Friday and has been "prohibitively expensive" at $7.25 per person, Galbraith said.

The Union Club will now provide breakfast, lunch and dinner five days a week, in addition to brunch and dinner on weekends.

Galbraith said 261 students signed up for the Union Club plan, and about 1,300 are using a UA Dining Services meal plan of some sort.

He added that the other two public Arizona universities already have similar meal plans.

During the 1996-97 academic year, the UA netted $189,000 in food-service revenues, compared with $700,000 at Arizona State University and $1 million at Northern Arizona University.

NAU's plan incorporates a plan similar to All Aboard and a system using the number of meals instead of points, said Gary Zaleski, general food service manager for Sodexho Marriott Services at NAU.

NAU students can pay $1,830 per academic year for a meal plan that includes 19 meals per week and $100 worth of meal-card credit, Zaleski said.

Students can pay $915 for one semester, but their meal card balance is reduced to $25.

Zaleski added that NAU students can opt for 10- and 14-meal-per-week plans that cost less and offer more credit.

Arizona State University has offered students a "point" plan for about two years, said Ann Pulczinski, general food service manager for Sodexho Marriott Services at ASU.

Pulczinski said points can be purchased as well as the more flexible meal-card credit.

Meals cost the same number of points at ASU and UA.

Pulczinski said students can buy as many points as they wish, and "the more points you buy, the less expensive the point."

One of the most frequently purchased meal plans requires a $640-per-semester fee for 400 points and $300 in credit, Pulczinski said.

James "Skip" Custis, a Union Club dining room supervisor, said the UA program is running smoothly in its first week and that about 50 students came to Saturday brunch.

Custis said he plans to draw even more students to the Union Club by adding Greek- and sports-theme motifs, or by simply offering a choice of dining music.

"They like the Beastie Boys," Custis said, adding that stu-dents preferred the alternative music group to artists like Garth Brooks.

Bryon Wells can be reached via e-mail at Bryon.Wells@wildcat.arizona.edu.