Starting next academic year, flex swipes are officially off the menu.

For years, University of Iowa students have been able to use their cards at university markets, cafes, and food trucks to pick up a meal combo through the flex swipe system. Both the gold and black meal plans gave students 75 of these swipes across the board.

Housing and Dining is now wiping this system out in favor of “dining dollars,” a dollar-for-dollar system instead of the bundled value of flex swipes.

Also among the changes are the meal plans themselves.

The gold and black meal plans, which offered unlimited meal swipes and 145 meal swipes respectively, will be replaced in favor of the unlimited and Block 160 plan. The unlimited plan still offers unlimited meal swipes but replaces 75 flex swipes with $150 dining dollars. The Block 160 meal plan replaces the black meal plan, offering 160 meal swipes and $450 dining dollars.

Both plans now only offer five guest meals instead of the eight that are included now.

Donald Stanwick, director of Dining Services, said talks for the change began as far back as the fall of 2023. Through rounds of student surveys throughout the years, one thing became clear to UI Dining.

“We found that students really wanted the ability to use their meal plans everywhere,” he said. “You can’t really do that with flex swipes. You’re stuck with getting a certain entree or certain sides or certain beverages, and you’re very limited, and you can only use it in certain locations.”

The new dining dollar system will be used anywhere on campus, from the dining halls to the rec’s power cafe, and at future national brands slated to arrive on campus. UI is in talks with multiple national brands but can’t yet confirm which will make their way to campus.

“We hope to announce those before the end of the school year this year, with hopefully one being able to open in the fall semester,” Stanwick said. “We just don’t know yet, but we’re pretty excited about what they’re going to bring.”

Some students aren’t nearly as excited for the change.

Students like UI first-year Eve Armstrong appreciate some changes, such as the added national brands and dining dollars carrying over from semester to semester. That being said, she believes the dollar-to-dollar system will make students more self-conscious about how much they’re spending at UI markets, potentially not taking full advantage of their meal plan.

“I think I’ll be more scared to use them,” she said. “And even though it does carry over, I might not be getting enough food for myself as I should, because I’m thinking ‘Oh no, this is another minus $3.’”

She also believes that a dollar-to-dollar system will disproportionality affect students with unique dietary needs.

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“For people who are gluten-free, it probably costs more than a regular sandwich,” she said. “So then it’s going to make those poor gluten-free people have to spend more money than the people who don’t care.”

UI first-year Trenton Jacobs shared a similar sense of skepticism.

“I think the newly adjusted meal plan prices do not nearly justify the amount of dollars we’re getting for it because a flex meal average cost is probably about 10 to 12 bucks,” he said. “With these new options, while it does give us exactly that, more options, what they’re providing us for these dining dollars is not worth it.”

Jacobs believes students will be paying more out of pocket with the new system as opposed to the bundle value the flex meals provided.

“They’re trying to maximize their money intake from us instead of expanding the flex meal options, so they’re reforming the entire program to get more money in their wallets, is the way I see it,” he said.

As the meal plan changes occur this fall, Stanwick encourages students to give feedback to UI Dining.

“We understand that it’s going to be a little bit difficult and a little bit challenging for people to adjust to the way things are, you know, and so we want people to know we’re here to listen,” he said. “We want to be able to make sure that we’re providing the best experience possible for students.”