Mercer University Auxiliary Services and Mercer Dining will introduce Transact Mobile Ordering to its students this August. The move will enable Mercer students to order ahead and skip the line for pickup at the university’s retail dining locations.

Boston’s Suffolk University has partnered with Grubhub to provide its students with another dining alternative. The move will expand the dining options available to Suffolk students and enable greater use of the campus card for payment. The partnership comes during a time of transition in higher ed as the university community adapts to a new campus normal and prepares to welcome students back.

A survey conducted by Nutrislice, a food-service digital engagement and solution provider, is reinforcing the importance of mobile dining solutions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The survey was circulated to some 800 college and university students across the US, and sought to clarify student expectations around campus dining amid a proposed return this fall.

Georgia Southern University has been providing mobile ordering to its students since 2015 and has seen nothing but strong usage and order volumes year on year. But as the university’s contract with its mobile ordering provider was approaching renewal in June of 2019, the university began weighing its options. Here’s how the university chose Transact Mobile Ordering.

Despite a vast majority of students returning to their homes for the remainder of the academic calendar, many universities are still serving a small number of students for whom traveling home isn’t an option. Vanderbilt University is one such campus, and Vandy Campus Dining has established a care package service for its remaining on-campus residents to help them during the pandemic shutdown.

Campuses are now beginning to strategize and plan for on-campus life in the wake of the pandemic lockdown. With this in mind, CBORD is launching a FREE webinar series beginning Tuesday, April 28, designed to help universities in reopening facilities with a focus on making the campus environment healthier. The series, entitled “A Healthy Return,” will feature sessions throughout May, June and July covering topics for card office, food service, security, IT, and housing staff.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced a number of campus housing changes. Michigan State University’s Housing Assignments Office is already looking to the summer with new options for students intending to live on the East Lansing campus this summer.