The days of Dining Dollars and on-campus Flex seem to be coming to a close now that campus concession areas, JJ's Place and Ferris Booth Commons, will likely become dining halls and switch to the meal plan payment system.

"Student are presently doing almost 1.5 million dollars worth of off campus Flex business with the local vendors and almost all of that is money that is not being spent in Dining Services. The changes, at present, that's we're talking about will be to convert JJ's Place and Ferris Booth Commons into one-price-at-the-door, all you care to eat dining facilities."

While Cafes East and 212 will survive as the last Flex and Dining Dollar locations, Wright maintains that this policy change will not affect students who use Flex off-campus. In fact, Wright cites the success of off-campus Flex as the reason for the policy change.

"Over the last year and a half, since we began the off-campus flex program is that there has been a steady decline in the amount of retail a la carte dining on campus. So with those sales going down and with board plan sales or meal plan sales and meal plan participation going up, we felt that it was important to expand the amount of board plan capacity that we had and reduce the amount of retail services that we offer since students are now getting a lot of this off campus."

Although Students Services believes this transition will be beneficial for Columbia, some students worry that the change will hurt the quality of food at these beloved campus eateries.

"The fear that product quality will suffer is a natural one. And it's one that Dining is going to have to answer and prove to students everyday. The commitment that we've made to the students who are working on this is that not only will the quality not suffer but the program won't change at all in these two locations."

Dining Dollars and Flex are not the only Columbia mainstays that may be leaving this campus. Housing and Dining will replace bottles drinks and snacks with fountain beverages and move certain food stations.

"At Ferris Booth Common, relocate sushi. In fact, one of the reasons we wanted sushi in Cafe East, in the lobby of 212, was in preparation for the elimination of sushi. At JJ's Place, we see eliminating the grocery items that are offered right now. Our plan is to offer a small amount of grocery items, breakfast cereals, laundry detergent, and a few things like that."

For students who depend heavily upon JJ's and Ferris for quick snacks and drinks, Wright offers this advice: "The biggest effect for upperclassmen would be when you don't want a full meal and you just want to get a drink or snack and in that case, we would want you to use Butler Library, Cafe 212 or one of the other retail facilities on campus."

The complete terms of the dining overhaul will not be available until Spring 2010 and changes will not be implemented until next Fall.