As the fall semester begins, renovations to Howard University’s Punchout dining location have left students who purchased higher-priced meal plans frustrated by the temporary loss of a dining option.
Punchout is temporarily closed due to construction renovations, according to the Howard University Office of Auxiliary Enterprises. The university anticipates the dining hall to reopen in October.
According to LeVita Basset, the executive director of the Office of Auxiliary Enterprises, the renovation was driven by the need to modernize the space and improve the student dining experience. She said students can expect a refreshed and more modern dining experience, including updated seating, lighting and dining concepts.
“The renovation is intended to improve the overall functionality of the space while providing students with additional food options and an improved dining environment,” Bassett said in a written statement to The Hilltop.
For the 2026-27 academic year, Howard University introduced new meal plans with increased costs, ranging from $3,280 to $3,578. The new plans eliminate dining dollars and replace them with Mecca Dollars, which can be used at Howard’s on-campus dining locations and select off-campus restaurants.
While the plans give students more flexibility in where they can use their meal funds, some upperclassmen say the increased cost is difficult to justify when Punchout is temporarily unavailable.
Dajah Howard, a senior health management major from Newark, New Jersey, estimates that she spends 25 hours on campus weekly, excluding extracurriculars, and felt it would be reasonable to purchase a meal plan this year. Due to the price increase, Howard said her mother was reluctant to get the meal plan to alleviate costs for her final year.
Howard also believed Punchout would be available to her once she purchased her meal plan. Punchout offered a variety of options, including sushi and teriyaki bowls at S&T Sushi, açaí bowls and smoothies at Everbowl, tacos and burritos at The Drop and Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines at the Halal Shack.
“That’s what I thought I signed up for,” Howard said.
When she discovered that Punchout was still under construction from last semester and would be temporarily inaccessible, she spoke to her mom about the frustrations the renovation is causing.
“We were both saying this was the whole point of me getting a meal plan, specifically to go to Punchout,” she said.
Since she discovered the temporary closure, Howard explained that she has resorted to alternative food options such as using her meal plan at the on-campus Chick-fil-A and convenience stores, or cooking at home and even buying meals out of pocket.
“Which ultimately just defeats the purpose of me getting the meal plan in the first place,” Howard said.
Basset said that students whose meal plans include Meal Plan Bucks can use their funds at participating off-campus locations, including Café Unido Shaw, CVS Pharmacy, Doro Soul Food, Jailyaa Food Trucks, PX Tacos, SOST and Roaming Rooster on U Street. In an Instagram post shared by the Office of Auxiliary Enterprises, Bison Hospitality and the official Howard University account on June 18, the Oohh’s & Ahh’s located on U Street is also listed as a participating vendor.
Madison Maynard, a senior honors broadcast journalism major from Cleveland, Ohio, said she purchased one of the cheaper meal plans, The Yard, which costs $3,280 and offers $750 Mecca Dollars and $1,250 Meal Plan Bucks per semester.
She said she uses her meal plan at on-campus convenience stores, Everbowl and off-campus restaurants.
Maynard and her roommate decided to use their meal plan at one of the listed off-campus restaurant vendors, Oohh’s & Aahh’s. After a 15-minute walk off campus, Maynard and her roommate were informed they could not use their Mecca Dollars included in their meal plan to purchase their food.
Bassest said that the university would provide updates as participating locations change or expand. On the pinned Instagram post, Oohh’s & Aahh’s is still listed as a participating vendor, as of Aug. 30.
Once she was informed that Punchout was under renovation and wasn’t an option for her anymore, Maynard said she was frustrated.
“I just got this 3k meal plan…expecting to go to Halal Shack again, expecting to get sushi again,” she said.
Maynard wishes there was more transparency from the university before deciding to get the meal plan, and said she is curious to see what Punchout will offer once renovations are done.
Kymorah Forbes, a senior finance major from Queens, New York, said she has purchased a meal plan every academic year.
“It’s the only way I can eat so I just get it,” Forbes said.
Forbes also purchased The Yard meal plan expecting to eat at the food options Punchout offered. She said she was unaware of the renovations and temporary closure before purchasing the meal plan.
Forbes said her mother offered her alternatives because of the increased price, but she decided to keep the meal plan. She mentioned if she had known about renovations beforehand, she would have “planned better” and reconsidered other options, such as cooking and meal-prepping her own food.
“So I didn’t have to spend $3000 on a meal plan and then not even have all my food options available to me,” she said.
Basset explained that the pricing of the meal plans reflects the overall dining program and not one singular project. She said that the renovations being made to Punchout is one part of the university’s broader investment in students’ dining experience.
Those broader investments include improvements to dining facilities, updated meal plan structures, guest passes, Mecca Dollars for participating on-campus locations and Meal Plan Bucks that provide access to participating off-campus businesses.
“Together, these changes are intended to provide students with greater flexibility, additional dining choices and an improved overall dining experience,” Basset said.
Copy edited by Sydney Middleton