(Use your hall name, Nottingham & NG7 2RD/E as your address).

Not using the whole £5.20 a day allowance? You're losing money that you've already paid to the uni.

Other unis (e.g. Birmingham and Sheffield) give their students a weekly allowance, which means odd bits of change add up to something usable (pizza and treats have been mentioned) by the end of the week.

Please sign to show your support for a weekly meal card allowance.

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Copy of the email I sent to acc-feedback:

" Hello,
I am writing to you to express my discontent with the meal card programme. 

Myself, and many others that I have spoken with, find that we are not managing to spend the full £5.20 a day allocation. Since any remaining balance is removed at the end of each day, we will end up losing a considerable amount of money over the academic year.

I have estimated, based on myself having lost around 40 pence every weekday since arriving, that I will lose roughly £60 this year. (I have been unable to find any items under 55 pence that are not available at hall mealtimes anyway). It seems that the university will be making a large profit from its students in catered accommodation. 

This is not the case at other universities, such as the Universities of Birmingham and Sheffield, who both provide weekly meal card allowances. Obviously this means that their students are throwing away far less money, as odd pennies compound over the week to an amount which is actually usable. 

To avoid continuing to do a disservice to the students already paying a premium to stay in catered halls, I would strongly suggest that university management provide meal card users with a longer-term allowance.​  

Thanks,

Amy Collins

ppyalc@nottingham.ac.uk "      

 

 

And their response:  

" Hi Amy, Sarah and Jay  

I am copying to other students who emailed with the same enquiry.  

I now have the information to respond to your enquiry, and can confirm:

 · You pay £4.94 towards your meal card daily allowance of £5.20.  The University adds 26p to reflect occasional underspends by students.  As the halls catering budget is dealt with as a totality; the small percentage not spent each day on student Meal Cards is recycled into halls meals going forward. 

  ·        Your catered package is for 19 meals: 12 in hall and 5 by meal card.  No refund is available if your choose not to utilise the package fully. Basic packed meals can be booked 48 hours in advance from your head chef if attendance in hall is not possible.  

·        Your meal card can be used at lunchtime at any of the 28 University run retail, bar or hall outlets excepting Starbucks, Oasis and Aspire.  A list of retail and bar units is available at the University website:http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hospitality/cafesandrestaurants/locationsopeningtimes.aspx  

Regards Elaine

(Information obtained from Catering Operations Director) "  

 

I think it's clear that we're still not getting the full amount of money we could be.