Pilot Dining Dollars, LSU Shreveport’s first-ever meal plan, is gaining steam as the program heads into its third year. Twenty-five percent more students signed up for the meal plan in the second year (2025-26) than the first year (2024-25), increasing to 115 participants in Year 2. Instead of the “meal swipes” of traditional university meal plans, Pilot Dining Dollars features a declining balance card (the student’s school ID) that students use like a debit card. Money deposited into Pilot Dining Dollars is tax-exempt, which stretches students’ resources further. The meal plan question was one Farnsworth-Smith and her staff heard repeatedly when prospective students and families toured campus.