Starting at orientation Iowa State Dining service helps students understand where they can use their meal plans, meal bundles, and dining dollars. With 21 different places on campus plus vending machines students have many options around campus to get a meal or quick snack.

Iowa State students do not always realize the many options Iowa State Dining service offers them. There are many ways ISU dining helps students including Cy’s Surprise, Utilizing dining dollars and the cafés located all around campus.

Cy’s surprise is a service that sends fresh baked goods to students living on campus. Parents and students can send Muffins, Cookies, cupcakes or cookie cakes to students. Many students do not know about this special surprise students can receive, Iowa State sophomore Elizabeth Gust says, “sounds like a cool idea, easy birthday gift”.

Iowa State dining helps students enjoy all their favorite foods, even the ones they might not be able to make themselves. Iowa State Freshman, Lauren Griffin said, “I think it’s a good idea, in my dorm we don’t have kitchens and can’t make cookies or anything like that”

With this service the dining service allows students to transition into college, Brittney Rutherford, marketing coordinator for ISU dining said “students don’t have to cook, they are here to be students and be successful at that”.

Iowa State Dining has improved their meal and food options this year with the increasing places students can get different foods. ISU dining has added a new global café to Curtis Hall and now allows students to bundle a smoothie and one side at Froots.

ISU Dining has created more options of food like the addition of Gyros in the Memorial Union and Sushi San adding hibachi to their menu. The food court in the MU has also made their menu more versatile by adding foods such as chicken cordon bleu and salmon.

Increasing food options is not the only way ISU dining has helped out students, Nancy Keller, director of ISU dining said “ISU dining has not raised their prices in 2 years” With an increase of food price in the economy ISU dining service has worked hard with students to both offer them a variety of food without making it too expensive for students.

With all the different options ISU dining offers it is sometimes hard for students to know where they can use their dining dollars and meal bundles. “I was confused at first but that is because I didn’t know it, you get used to it as you go along” Gust said.

With the five different meal plans ISU dining gives students many different options for students with all kinds of schedules, as well as the dining center offering online and social media sites alerting students how many meals and dining dollars they have left, which many students utilize, “on average I check once every 2 weeks”

Said Gust.