Every undergraduate student at the University of Alabama with nine or more hours will automatically be entered into the Dining Dollars program. A total of three hundred dollars per fall and spring semester or one hundred dollars for the summer term is taken from the student tuition and put onto their action card. This money can only be used at all dining location on campus, Domino's Pizza delivery, Crimson Cafe, Buffalo Phil's and Strip Teas and Coffee. Besides Dining Dollars, there is also the option to open a Bama Cash account on your action card. Bama Cash is basically a pre-paid debit card that you can use on and off campus at participating locations. There are some students that take full advantage of Bama Cash however many do not because they can just use their debit card connected to a bank. All of those students who do not use Bama Cash are still stuck with the three hundred Dining Dollars and not many places to spend them. If more places in Tuscaloosa were to take dining dollars it would create a win-win situation giving the students more places to spend the money, bringing in more customers to any business choosing to participate in the program, and the University would receive more money from the commission it gets from participating businesses.
Students dislike the fact that the three hundred dining dollars are mandatory and that there are only four off campus restaurants that accept them. If a student feels they need a break from the on-campus dining options they do not have to travel very far to get to any of the participating locations. Buffalo Phil’s, Strip Teas and Coffee, and Crimson Café are all located on the strip and Domino’s delivers to anywhere on campus. However the close proximity of these places does not make up for the fact that they get old quickly. Many students would love the opportunity to go out and really experience the city of Tuscaloosa, however they feel like they can’t. This is especially the case for any Alabama student who, for school related or other reasons, does not have a job in Tuscaloosa. For many of these students the Dining Dollars program is their only way of eating off campus and the prospect of more businesses accepting them is a very exciting idea.
Not only would an expansion of the Dining Dollars program benefit the students but it would also benefit any business that decided to participate. The main reason that many places do not accept the Dining Dollars is because the University requires any participating restaurant to pay a twenty percent commission on profits. However if the success of Buffalo Phil’s and Crimson Café are any indicator of the amount of customers that accepting dining dollars brings, any restaurant in the city of Tuscaloosa could benefit from joining this program. Another benefit for businesses that are already accepting Dining Dollars is that all of them are local staples at The University of Alabama. Which means that some students will occasionally return to these places even after the Dining Dollars run out, this is a benefit that will undoubtedly be the case for any new businesses that join the program.
The more restaurants that join the program the more The University of Alabama benefits. As of now the University is receiving a very high commission from four different restaurants. A good way for the University to keep getting money from different businesses is to lower the very high commission. While the University may think this will lower the amount of money they get from the program, it would actually do the exact opposite. A lower commission would just be incentive for businesses to enter the program. Therefore the University would still end up getting the same amount of money from the program, and eventually more because of the potential businesses that will join.
The idea of more businesses joining the Dining Dollars program is a classic example of a win-win situation. Students would have more places to spend the three hundred dollars that are automatically put on their account and would therefore be happier. Businesses would make a lot more money and would bring in a much larger volume of customers, and the University would make a lot more money from the Dining Dollar commissions.
No comments:
Post a Comment