As the semester nears its end, NYU first-years fall into one of two camps: those who have excess meal swipes and those who are scraping the bottom of the barrel. With increasing transparency surrounding food insecurity at NYU, heated debate centers around whether students should willingly give up their leftover swipes to those who have run out or charge the swipe-less for their miscalculations.  

The semester usually ends with students left with extra swipes, as NYU requires first-years living in traditional residence halls to purchase a 225 Flex plan or higher and those living in apartment-style residence halls to purchase a 120 Flex plan or higher. Alumni have created apps and programs — Swipe Me and Share Meals — to combat food waste, but if students aren’t aware of these programs, they’re just left with the excess. 

Steinhardt alumnus Noah Hyams created Swipe Me, an application that swiftly connects students with extra swipes to those with none.

“In this incredibly expensive city, there should be a way for students to access this resource that would otherwise be wasted,” Hyams said. “Swipe Me even has a market feature which allows students to trade swipes for things such as tutoring or a haircut.”

On the other end of the spectrum are first-years who run out of swipes with a month left in the fall semester and desperately turn to the NYU Class of 2022 Facebook page for relief. This group been known to negotiate the value of their swipes rather than just give them away. One student said they’d trade their swipes for Yu-Gi-Oh cards; another challenged hungry students to a game of Mario Kart.

Tisch first-year Sebastian Duran fueled the fire in the Facebook group by writing a post that read, “Anyone wanna go hunting squirrels and rats in the park to feed my starving family?” 

Despite his jokes, he said he doesn’t see the use in students charging other students for swipes. 

“Asking for a high price is really kind of selfish because [other students] are hungry,” Duran said. 

CAS first-year Vincent Yu is a bit more cynical, saying that students can learn a thing or two about economics as they barter their extra meal swipes. He said students are entitled to their swipes and therefore have a right to charge others for them. 

“There are people who are really in need of the meal swipes. And there are also people who just wanna take advantage of other people’s kindness,” Yu wrote in a Facebook message. “If the meal swipes are free then the people who wanna take advantage of others might take away the chance for people who are really in need of the meal swipes to get them.”

This meal swipe sensation may be turning into a trending meme, but running out of swipes and facing hunger is a huge reality check. CAS first-year James Bready has been crunching numbers to see how he can utilize his remaining meal swipes.

“I average 3.6 meal swipes and $1.84 Dining Dollars per day,” Bready said. “I have 21 cents and seven meal swipes left.” 

Luckily, Bready’s friends have been generous with their meal swipes, double swiping when he tags along with them for a meal. 

“Most people have a lot of meal swipes left, so it isn’t a problem for them,” Bready said. 

However, others have different methods to finessing meal swipes from their friends. CAS first-year Rawit Assamongkol, who has 20 meal swipes left, plays the oblivious and forgetful card when he’s at Kimmel Market Place with friends. He gets in line and says he’s forgotten his NYU ID. 

“Then, [my friends] really have no choice but to swipe me in,” he said. 

He used to swipe in three to four times per day, thinking that was normal, but didn’t expect his meal plan to shallow this early. 

“Everyone is different,” Assamongkol said. “I just happen to eat more efficiently than the kids on a meal plan, but still spend about $30 on food a day.”

The end of the semester is almost here, so whether you need to trade some playing cards or trick your friends into handing over a spare swipe, do what you can to compensate for your lack of swipes. And before you know it, you’ll be heading home for winter break. 

Email Anna de la Rosa and Pamela Jew at [email protected].