Students have started to become very frustrated with the university’s new computer system. With this new system, students are no longer able to see how many meals they have left when they swipe their card. The university updated their old system to accommodate students’ other requests, such as being able to pay with a credit or debit card. Director of Dining Services Mike Ernst has become aware of this problem and plans to resolve the issue in the near future. As for right now, students will have to continue using their eAccounts to find out their meal count.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Dining Services have recently made some changes to their computer system, causing many students to become disgruntled.

Beginning in the fall semester, students found that they were no longer able to view their meal count at the registers as their cards were being swiped.  As this spring semester began, students noticed that these changes still remained.

With these new changes being made, students found themselves either overspending their Dining Dollars or left over with an abundance of meals.

“The whole process was confusing for me. Being a transfer student, it was easy for me to lose track of how many meals I used. I ended up underspending. It took me a while to even figure out how to use eAccounts,” sophomore Alyssa Kirkeeng said. “It became especially confusing for me at places where food generally costs more than a meal.”

As students are becoming more frustrated with this new change, they have become more inclined to eat at Stations, located in Bridgeway, because it is the only dining service that shows students their meal count.

“Stations is the only dining location where students can immediately know their meal count,” Stations’ Student Manager Chai Thao said. “Other than that, they will have to check their eAccount online.”

The old computer system was changed in order to allow access to other beneficial features that students had previously requested.

“The changes were made so students can use credit and debit cards at the machines; that was one of the most requested changes that students wanted to see,” Director of Dining Services Mike Ernst said.

In order to alleviate possible concerns, Ernst said, “Other universities have been experiencing the same problems. We understand that it’s [not being able to see the meal count] an issue and we are working on it.”

The meal count system will return to normal, and students will continue to be able to use credit cards.

For now, in order to access their meal count, students will have to use their eAccount system.

The eAccount system can be found on the UW-Platteville website in the Dining Service section.