Last semester, Commonwealth University–Bloomsburg shut down Roongos, its popular dining location in the Warren Student Service Center, due to insufficient funding. In its place, the university has introduced a new self-service vending room at the SSC, equipped with Byte Technology vending machines stocked with snacks, drinks, and prepared food items, along with a Costa coffee machine that prepares hot beverages on demand. Students access the room by swiping their campus ID card, with all charges automatically applied to their FLEX account.
The closure of Roongos represents a significant downgrade in dining options for CU students. While the vending machine room offers a modern, low-cost alternative, it falls drastically short of what students lost and what the university promised. Most critically, vending machines cannot accept meal swipes—the primary dining plan system that many students depend on for their daily meals. This forces students to pay out-of-pocket with FLEX funds rather than use their meal plan allocation, creating a two-tiered system where students with declining meal plan balances face additional financial barriers to accessing food.
Beyond the financial burden, the machines cannot replicate the variety, flexibility, or basic dining experience that Roongos provided, raising serious questions about the university’s commitment to food accessibility and affordability on campus. Food insecurity remains a real concern on college campuses, and Commonwealth University’s decision to reduce dining options rather than maintain or expand them raises questions about institutional priorities. For a university committed to student success and wellness, ensuring adequate access to affordable, convenient meals should be non-negotiable.
The decision to replace Roongos with vending machines has sparked widespread disappointment among students. Despite CU Dining’s presentation of the vending room as a modern solution to campus food accessibility.
“The concept is there, but it just wasn’t executed properly,” said Gabby Marosevitch, a student who has used both dining options. “The fact that there’s items that use meal swipes elsewhere and not there is an inconvenience.” Her observation cuts to the heart of the issue: the vending machine room creates inconsistency across campus, forcing students to navigate different payment systems depending on where they eat.
This is more than just an inconvenience—it directly impacts student finances. Many students depend on their meal plans, only to discover that swipes don’t work at the new vending room. The result is that students must choose between using limited FLEX funds or foregoing meals entirely.
Social media reactions have been overwhelmingly negative. “We eliminated Roongos for this? So sad!” commented Eric Hawralek on Facebook, a sentiment echoed across the campus community. The comment encapsulates a broader frustration: what should have been a seamless transition has instead felt like a significant loss.
The university now faces a choice: listen to student feedback and find ways to integrate meal plan compatibility with the vending system, or risk deepening concerns about its commitment to student wellbeing.
Students like Marosevitch remain hopeful but skeptical.
“While the vending machine room represents a step forward in some respects, it falls short of what we lost when Roongos closed,” she noted. As the semester progresses, it remains to be seen whether Commonwealth University Dining will take action to address these concerns or whether students will have to adapt to a significantly diminished dining landscape.
The administration has an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to student wellness by responding thoughtfully to this feedback. Whether it does so will say much about where the university’s priorities truly lie.
