Monday, November 23, 2009
Focus Dates are interim deadlines by which dining plan students must have no more than a defined number of resident points. This number is set to allow students to purchase more food toward the end of the semester but is not high enough to encourage hoarding of points to use all at the end of the semester. After two semesters on a dining plan, students can opt out of the Focus System.
The Focus System is intended to balance the desire for dining plan students maximize the value and flexibility they receive from their dining plans with Dining Services need to budget food and labor throughout the semester. Campus student leaders were instrumental in creating this plan. We are working with current campus student leaders to make sure this is still the optimal system for University of Maryland resident students. Variations are being proposed and some of these will be tested in the near future.
