Atkinson said the meal plan system changed when results of a campus-wide survey in December 1998 found that Loyola students were not happy. He said that after assessing the survey and complaints, he realized that female students thought that they were unfairly charged for amounts of food that they were not eating. A majority of students liked the prospect of designing their own meal plan. At breakfast and lunch, Monday through Friday, students purchase meals a la carte and pay for everything they eat. Students can also utilize the Wolf Bucks portion of the plan any time of the day.
Students can eat up to five meals a day on the new plan.
The value of the purchase is deducted from the balance on the Loyola Express Card. According to Atkinson the student can use the Express Card for any breakfast, lunch, mid-day or midnight snack purchase at any of the seven campus food service locations. Executive chef Dee Huezo said LDS tries to accommodate people with specific dietary needs. Huezo meets with a hired dietician every two weeks and structures diets for students of all dietary needs, including athletes with certain nutritional requirements and those whose religions may restrict them from having certain foods. Students can contact Huezo with special requests via e-mail.