University of Akron to outsource dining

The University of Akron (UA) will contract out its dining services as part of a sweeping three-year cost-cutting program totaling $40 million in budget reductions. The plan also includes the immediate termination of the baseball program and the elimination of 215 staff positions.

The preparation of an RFP for an outside contractor to run the campus dining program for the first time in the school’s 145-year history was first reported this past spring.

“The University of Akron’s future is bright, but first we need to fix its finances,” President Scott Scarborough said in a prepared statement announcing the move. “Our review indicates UA has a $60 million financial problem, and we have developed a three-year plan to solve that problem.”

UA has an enrollment of around 26,500 students of whom less than 5,500 live on campus and about that number purchase meal plans, according to data from NACUFS.

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]