c/o Sulan Bailey, Assistant Features Editor

Welcome to Ask The Argus, a semi-regular advice column brought to you by the Features section! To submit a question to Ask The Argus, click here.

I’ll be honest with you. I ran out of points weeks ago. I don’t want it to happen again next semester, but I need my morning coffee. Help!

Have no fear, The Argus is here to save your bank account. So you ran out of points before Thanksgiving…don’t panic! I promise you can still eat outside of Usdan this semester. Don’t feel bad either, it happens to the best of us. 260 points are not enough to sustain you through either of your first two semesters, no matter what the University tries to tell you. 

Here’s what I learned from my own blunders: the best way to conserve points is to plan your meals around the times and places that serve options you can purchase for one meal swipe rather than points. That doesn’t mean your only choices are between Usdan and Summerfields (Summies). There are plenty of spots on campus that offer a more diverse selection.

Breakfast: Breakfast is offered in the Usdan dining hall from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday to Friday. Rushing to class? Stop at Usdan Café downstairs and grab a fruit cup, a medium iced coffee, or a bagel, sandwich, or pastry. This sweet deal has gotten me well-caffeinated before my 8:50 a.m. class in Boger Hall all semester. This option is available from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekdays. If you’ve got class in Exley Science Center instead, Pi Café offers two great options for a meal swipe from 8 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. You can get a pastry or bagel, a fruit cup or yogurt, and a medium coffee or tea, or one of the juices that are labeled “meal beverage.” Or you can get an egg sandwich, a fruit cup, and one of the beverage options listed above. Take full advantage of this. Don’t go to class hungry!

Lunch: From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., you can use a meal swipe at Usdan Marketplace for the buffet or at Usdan Café for a salad or sandwich and small Tropicana juice. Summies opens at 11 a.m. and continues to accept meal swipes through dinnertime.  

But I think Weshop’s got the best lunchtime deal: merely one swipe for a salad, sandwich, protein bowl or small sushi plate (all available in the refrigerator near the cashiers), along with a juice, a piece of fruit, a small pack of chips, and cookies. Go quickly though! While that option is available from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., those meals will likely be gone by 12:15 p.m.

Dinner: During dinner, you are limited to Usdan Marketplace from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Summies from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. if you want to use a meal swipe. But don’t forget that Summies offers late-night meals from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. every day for meal swipes. 

Weekends: Weekends can feel a bit bleak if you’re looking for food on campus before 11 a.m., in that there really isn’t any. Usdan Marketplace is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for brunch and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. for dinner. Summies opens for only dinner and late night at the same times as on weekdays. No other dining locations on campus offer meal swipes during the weekend.

If you want to keep an eye on your points spending throughout the semester, The Argus’s own News Editor, Community Manager and Head Archivist Sam Hilton ’25 created an impressive points calculator, which shows you how many points you should have at any point in the semester and how many you should be spending each day. It is set up for the current semester, but it will be updated in the spring! 

Now you may have noticed that two beloved options are missing from this explanation: Wes Wings and Red and Black Cafe. The two establishments only accept points, so if you’re a first year or sophomore looking to conserve points, you might have a while to wait before you can visit them regularly. If you’re good enough about saving your points throughout the semester, have fun splurging there during finals week. It’ll drive your friends mad with envy.

Sulan Bailey can be reached at sabailey@wesleyan.edu.