Students look to spend remaining Dining Dollars

As the 2025-2026 school year wraps up, students with leftover dining dollars are in a rush to spend as much as they can. 

Dining Dollars that go unspent will expire and not carry on to the next school year. Many students have upwards of $100 and only a week and a half left to spend it. 

Local campus dining spots like Wendy’s and Chick-Fil-A have been seeing an increase in the amount of students placing orders. 

“We have another general manager who was here before me. He warned me that a lot of people come and use their dining dollars at the end of the year,” said Sean Bright, manager of the KU Memorial Union Wendy’s.

The Hawk Shop locations on campus have been busy as well, with students using remaining dollars to stock up for finals and the summer time. 

“I had over $400 left with like three weeks left in the school year,” said freshman Catherine Jensen. “I’ve been using them. I just went to the Hawk shop and buying like, drinks, and stuff over the summer. I also bought stuff for my friends. I’m just trying to get rid of them.” 

Other students have been sharing their dining dollars with members of their sorority or fraternity. 

Employees say that this can be the busiest time of the year. 

“We usually have a lot of people coming in during the morning, but now it’s less of little snacks and people are buying things in bulk,” said Anna Sweeney, Hawk Shop employee.

With the semester coming to a close, students are working hard to spend their remaining balance and make sure they leave campus with no money left unspent.