By Audrey Sears
EASTON – Coffee addicts weren’t too pleased with the switch to a meal swipe system last semester. Some students felt they wasted money on unused meal swipes, while others felt forced to add funds to their dining dollars account.
Previously, the Ace’s Place café only accepted dining dollars, a policy similar to other non-all-you-can-eat campus venues such as Dunkin’ and Lux Café. This portion of the primary Resident Student Meal Plan is limited to a budget of $75. Even with an upgraded meal plan, costing an additional $200, students are budgeted the same $75 amount. Students also have the option of paying out of pocket at all dining venues on campus.
However, the update to Ace’s Place café’s payment policy has been a step in the right direction, according to some students.
“I feel like I can actually use my meal plan and get my money’s worth by using meal swipes at Ace’s,” said Justine Michaud, ‘25. “I had, like, over 100 swipes left over last semester that I feel just went to waste.”
With the acceptance of meal swipes at the café, students can buy either one venti-sized drink or both a tall-sized drink and a pastry in exchange for one meal swipe.
“Being able to use meal swipes to get breakfast is so much better than paying [out of pocket] or having to go off campus,” said Katharine Tubbs, ‘25.
The café’s most popular drink has been the Venti Strawberry Açaí Refresher, according to Ace’s Place barista Donna Emanuel. Emanuel said that business at the café has “doubled since last Thursday,” when the meal swipe exchange was implemented.
Immediate attempts to reach Greg Wolfe, Stonehill’s business manager and director of purchasing, were unsuccessful.
Before the acceptance of meal swipes, students were spending upwards of $150 to meet their caffeine needs last semester. The entire system was a big change, especially for students in the class of 2025.
“As seniors, we went from having three years of spending however much we wanted on things from Dunkin’ and Ace’s to only getting $75,” said Michaud.
Tubbs and Megan Briley, ’25, added that the amount was just too low. Both added additional funds to their dining dollars last semester and still paid out of pocket for coffee.
“I ended up spending double the $75 amount just to get coffee from Dunkin’ and Ace’s. At one point I thought about just going off campus to get something better if I was going to spend the money anyway,” Briley said.
The math seems to agree with the students who say that the $75 was not enough.
If a student orders the most popular coffee at Ace’s, a Venti Iced Caramel Macchiato, which totals a cost of $6.25, the $75 budget can only support 12 of these coffees for the entire semester. That doesn’t include tax and only accounts for one large drink, not any additional food, dairy substitutes, or flavoring additives.
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