As classes come to a close and professors dole out evaluations to their students, one more unofficial end-of-semester tradition is slowly but surely taking form on campus: maxing out the money on your board card before your credit is permanently erased.
Now, this may initially seem like a good idea, especially if you have a friend with $450 of credit on their board card. All the baked potatoes and Kim Son you can eat! But think how you'd feel if you were the lucky dog with a lifetime supply of Mexican Pizzas and bagels.
Why should a person have to spend money on food they don't even want? Sure, students should think about how much money they will spend and put it on their board card accordingly, but who can precisely predict just how much money they will dole out for Dunkin' Donuts breakfasts?
Aramark should reimburse students for the money they do not use. Where exactly do those dollars go, anyway?
Letting friends borrow your board card sounds like a good idea as well, but that raises questions of safety. Aramark doesn't enforce matching the photo on a board card to the customer who is using it, so who's to say that person who is using John Doe's board card isn't really his friend but just some pink-mohawked, breakdancin' punk with a fast story?
If you actually do lose your precious card, Aramark doesn't reimburse you unless you can provide "substantial evidence" that the card was stolen. What is substantial evidence, exactly? Small remnants of Chinese food smeared onto your card? A spaghetti-sauce fingerprint? Sounds like substantial evidence translates into lots of red tape.