YuLin Zhen, Photography Editor

In response to a September Yale College Council proposal, the Yale administration has agreed to increase meal vouchers to $40 on days when all dining halls are closed over school breaks.

Eligible students, who may be unable to return home, can use these vouchers through UberEats if they stay on campus during a school break when the dining halls are closed. Many students felt that the previously provided $30 was an insufficient daily allowance during breaks.

“This daily struggle to balance hunger and financial constraints undermines the very essence of the care and community that Yale claims to uphold,” the YCC proposal reads.

Dining halls will be open for much of Thanksgiving break. From Nov. 28-30, though, when all dining halls are closed, eligible students will be able to receive a $40 meal voucher each day, an increase of $10 from previous breaks.

YCC Senator Diego Paz ’27 sponsored the bill after hearing concerns from first-generation or low-income students and international students about acquiring meals over school break. Paz himself used the $30 meal vouchers last Thanksgiving break, and he found it difficult to obtain an adequate amount of food.

“I was asking other people who qualified for the voucher but were not remaining on campus if they could literally just Uber food for me,” Paz said. “I remember that my friend would order it and then I would go out and pick it up. It was a whole situation, just because that $30 was not getting anything.”

Kennedy Smith ’26 is an FGLI Community Initiative Student Ambassador. Given the concerns that students have raised, he also appreciates the increase in the meal voucher.

As an ambassador, Smith said he spoke with Dean Burgwell Howard about the details of the meal voucher program, including that it can now be used multiple times per day. According to an FGLI newsletter, they are available to students with under $10,000 in financial aid share, and provide flexibility to purchase meals and groceries within a 15-mile radius of New Haven. 

At the same time, Smith believes there could be more resources to educate students on how to make the most of the money available through vouchers, and he wants to continue providing such advice to students. This includes ordering groceries instead of restaurant food, or picking up food instead of getting it delivered.

“[Last spring, when I used the vouchers], I thought it wasn’t enough,” Smith said. “But I don’t think I was well informed enough about how I can make the most of it.”

Anisia Evangelista ’26 used the meal vouchers during spring break last school year. Evangelista, an international student from Brazil, tried to make her own food in the college kitchens using money from the meal voucher but found it challenging.

She said that if she ordered groceries to be dropped off, she faced extra delivery fees. Otherwise, she needed to find her own transportation to the store where she had ordered, which could also be challenging.

“It was not feasible. It was not enough,” Evangelista said.

Evangelista has an on-campus job, but she said it is not enough to help her cover the cost of her meals over break. She needs her campus income to pay for necessities and basic items, like toothpaste and other toiletries. 

It is challenging to live on a budget, she said, especially with the added stress of insufficient meal vouchers.

Paz said he is glad that the administration has agreed to increase the value of the voucher on days when all dining halls are closed. He said the administration was willing to hear the concerns of students. He thinks they might not have realized how frustrating and stressful the current voucher situation was, and he appreciates the changes that are being made.

“I also recognize that it’s much easier said than done, in terms of keeping the dining halls open,” Paz said. “I know that it’s not that easy, but I definitely think that we were able to make progress.”

The UberEats vouchers renew each day and do not carry over.