According to the University of California's 2017 Global Food Initiative: Food and Housing Security at the University of California report 48% of undergraduates and 25% of graduate students had experienced some level of food insecurity. 

At this point in time, UCSB does not have a rollover system in place for meal plans meaning that each week the meals students do not use expire and can not be used the following week. 

College students at times can have hectic schedules that may prevent them from being able to use all their meal swipes within designated times during the week. From fulfilling studying responsibilities, participating in extracurriculars, and possibly working on/off-campus jobs it is understandable as to why students may not be able to use all their meal swipes. So rather than having those meal swipes go to waste each week why not let them rollover throughout the quarter and restart at the beginning of the following quarter? This petition is calling for UCSB Dining Hall Services to implement a rollover system for ALL students with meal plans to be able to use unused meal swipes from one week in the following week. Ideally, students should be able to use rollover meal swipes in any of the 4 dining commons (Ortega, De La Guerra, Portola, Carillo).

The implementation of a rollover system could help combat food insecurity and help students who have busy schedules not waste meals or even run out of meals during weeks where they are able to take full advantage of their meal plans.

As an undergraduate student who had a meal plan for 2 years there were definitely times I was not able to use all my meal swipes and had to see my unused swipes go to waste at the end of the week. Simultaneously some weeks I would be able to take full advantage of my meal plan and use all my swipes only to find that by Saturday morning I no longer had any meal swipes available to use. During weeks where I had prematurely run out of swipes, I had to figure out alternative options for where my next meal would come from, an issue that could have easily been resolved if we had a rollover system in place. 

If you would like to help future UCSB students who may suffer from this issue then I urge you to please sign this petition so future students can benefit from the creation of a rollover meal swipe system!

Thank you!