Collegiate Times

An SGA pilot program offering a dining incentive will give students a 10 percent discount at dining halls between the hours of 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., beginning next week.

The pilot program, put together by SGA Vice President Shane McCarty, will run Sept. 21-Sept. 25. Students will only get the discount if they present a coupon, a measure taken to judge interest in the incentive. If the program is implemented as an everyday measure, no coupon will be required.

"We spent Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 14 and 15, on the Drillfield passing out 10 percent off coupons for students to be used Monday, Sept. 21 until Friday, Sept. 25," McCarty said. "Dining and SGA saw an opportunity to reduce congestion during the peak hours of 11:30 a.m. to about 2 p.m. and we want to give incentives to students for changing their eating schedules."

McCarty hopes students are going to try the program.

"We really hope that students do (take advantage) because there have been lots of complaints and concerns about having to wait in line so long," McCarty said. "We hope that this is kind of a plan that really makes the change that the students are looking for."

Brandon Carroll, SGA president, said that he hopes the program will relieve stress that the dining employees experience during peak hours.

"Students are in line longer and employees are more rushed," Carol said, "so if we can spread out some of that congestion from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. when the dining halls are not making as much money, we can actually increase revenue, decrease congestion, make employees happier, make students get their food faster, save some extra money all around by starting this dining incentive program."

Carroll said the program is designed to see how the dining incentive program is affecting the university. A successful program could lead to the permanent installation of the incentives.

"With this economy, 10 percent is enough to get students to change their eating habits from the regular hours of noon to 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. instead," Carroll said. "If the program works, it is something we can implement in the school, and if not, we are still testing it out to see how effective it is."

Steve Garnett, unit manager of West End, said that the program has been advertised with table cards and distribution of the coupons throughout the week.

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