MEAL PLAN WAIVER POLICY
Purpose
This policy establishes the guidelines and process for students requesting a waiver from the mandatory meal plans. The policy covers meal plans for all students required to purchase a meal plan.
Procedures
Students requesting a waiver from a meal plan must complete the Meal Plan Waiver Request form.
Waiver requests will be accepted from August 1 each year until 4:00 PM on the second Friday of the fall semester for fall waivers and from December 1 each year until 4:00 PM on the second Friday of the spring semester for spring waivers. Requests received prior to the first day to accept requests will be held and not reviewed by the Waiver Review Committee until after the first day to accept requests. Waiver requests received after the last day to accept requests will be automatically denied.
A student may submit a waiver request form and all supporting documents to University Contract Administration at 1900 Arthur Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40208-2768; or email requests to mealplanwaivers@louisville.edu or fax requests to (502) 852-0740.
The committee may meet at least weekly beginning August 1 of each year until all fall waiver requests are reviewed and then beginning December 1 of each year until all spring waiver requests are reviewed.
Pending the waiver decision and any subsequent appeal, meal plan funds will be available on the student ID card. A student applying for a waiver or appeal will be able to use these funds to purchase items from campus dinning services. If a student is granted a waiver, they would only receive a credit for the unused balance on their meal card.
Notification to students regarding the outcome of their request will be sent by the committee to the email address provided by the student. For all denied waiver requests the email will include information on how the student may appeal the committee’s decision.
The committee chair may call a special meeting at anytime. If a special meeting is called, at least five (5) of the committee members, including three (3) students, must be present for any action to be taken on behalf of the committee.
Appeals
A student may appeal the decision of the waiver review committee if: 1) additional information regarding the request is available; 2) the student’s circumstances have changed; or 3) if the student believes, and can document, that established procedures were not followed by the committee.
All appeals of the committee’s decision must be submitted on line at : MEAL PLAN APPEALS FORM or in writing to: Meal Plan Waiver Appeals, Office of the Dean of Students, W301 Swain Student Activities Center, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40208. Direct questions about the process to mealplanappeals@louisville.edu; or fax to 502-852-1429. Appeals will be heard by the Director of Student Activities for students not living in on campus housing and by the Director of Housing for students living in on campus housing. Appeals must be submitted within fourteen (14) days of the date on the email notifying the student of the review committee’s decision.
The Director of Student Activities or the Director of Housing as appropriate will review and decide the disposition of all appeals. The decision of the Director of Student Activities or the Director of Housing will be final.
Waiver Review Committee
The Waiver Review Committee shall include:
- The Student Government Association Services Vice President
- Two Student Representatives Not Living on Campus (appointed by the Student Government Association, with at least one that is not serving in an appointed or elected position of the Student Government Association)
- One Student Representative from the Resident Student Association
- One Student or Staff Representative from University Athletics (appointed by Athletics)
- One Staff Representative from Contract Administration
- One Staff Representative from University Housing – Committee Chair
The committee will be chaired by the representative from University Housing. All committee members shall be voting members. All decisions of the committee shall be made by simple majority vote.
Waiver Criteria
Waivers will be considered for dietary reasons or if a student has a unique circumstance that would prohibit them from using the meal plan.
For dietary requests, the student must submit a written statement from a medical doctor, registered dietitian or religious leader that includes very detailed information regarding the student’s diet restrictions. The committee will then review the diet restrictions and determine if the University Dining Services can meet the student’s diet needs considering the type and variety of food available on campus.
Students residing off-campus and on co-op or student teaching will be exempt.
Unique circumstances may include, but not be limited to, only taking evening classes, financial hardships, and students with residing dependents. The student must submit a detailed explanation of their circumstance along with any documentation that supports their waiver request. The committee will review each request and determine if the student’s unique circumstance prohibits them from using the meal plan or if the meal plan creates an undue hardship for the student sufficient to approve a waiver.
Background Information
In July 2008, the University entered into a contract with Sodexo Campus Services to provide food services to the campus community. With this new partnership, the University introduced a new mandatory meal plan program for all full-time students taking courses on Belknap campus. Previous to this the University had a required meal plan, but it only pertained to on-campus residential students.
As has been the case for on-campus students, a meal plan wavier is a part of the new overall meal plan program. When it was determined that the existing wavier process needed to be modified, student forums were advertised and scheduled to obtain student feedback. At a SGA student forum in October 2008, students expressed various ideas of what should be included in a waiver. Dani Smith, SGA Services Vice President, solicited students to send input to her about the wavier. Vice President Smith conducted four meetings with students to receive input on the wavier. She then drafted a set of recommendations for a meal plan wavier and shared the draft with all students who had expressed concerns about the meal plan. She then refined her recommendations and forwarded them to a small working group lead by Sonny Altman, director of contract administration. The working group reviewed the SGA recommendations and drafted a wavier policy. The draft wavier policy was presented to the Dining Service Advisory Committee for review and feedback, the committee was supportive of the policy. The policy was then submitted to the Vice President for Student Affairs and the Vice President for Business Affairs for final approval on April 6, 2009.
