It’s a Wednesday night, you’re sitting in your room starved, and you’re all out of meal plan swipes. Do you order Domino’s for the sixth time this month? Do you go to Buffalo Phil’s for the second week in a row? Well, if your answer was no to the past two questions, then my next question to you is this: What will you do? As students, we have few opportunities for dining.

We can spend the $500+ a semester for a meal plan, or we can decline to apply for a meal plan and simply grocery shop and prepare our own meals. However, regardless of the choice we make, we, as full-time students, are charged an additional $300 on our student bill each semester for Dining Dollars.

Dining Dollars can be used at various locations, including Java City in Gorgas Library, the food court within the Ferg, Subway locations on campus, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, the Rec, Julia’s in Tutwiler, Stewart’s Corner in Lloyd, the Hub and the Pod in the SEC. While these sound like a lot of options, here’s the catch: All of these locations are on campus and close pretty early compared to the schedule of many college students’ lives.

So, what if a student can’t make it to one of these places or if the location is closed? There’s always Domino’s and B-Phil’s right? While these are great off-campus options for quick, already-prepared food, it would be nice to have a little more variety.

Now, admittedly, I do not have a clue how exactly this sort of thing works, and I’m sure it’s not as simple as writing a nicely worded letter to the local Panda Express (wink, wink), but it couldn’t hurt to try adding a few more off-campus locations where Dining Dollars can be used.

If anything, this could help generate more business for local restaurants. Students are more likely to eat where the food is either affordable or really good. In other words, students will likely go to a place that accepts Dining Dollars before spending their own money. If more restaurants were added to the options of Dining Dollar-accepting locations, this would also be good for their business. Students would be enticed to try the restaurant because they do not have to spend additional money, and in the event that students actually like the restaurant, the student may even bring in more money by inviting friends.

Let’s face it: Eventually, we are all bound to run out of Dining Dollars, and when that time comes, we will have no choice but to spend our own money. Seems to me like a great reason for businesses to hop on board with Dining Dollars.

Erynn Williams is a sophomore majoring in dance and international studies. Her column runs bi-weekly.