As students sleepily approached the dining hall for breakfast, they awoke with surprise when, seconds before the card scanner's familiar beep, their points became dollars and cents.

The new display is part of the University's updated food-account system, Lisa Wandel, assistant director of food services, said.

The new program uses the University's current card-reading machines but produces more accurate information and reports, Wandel said. She said the system has been a success at Berks County campus.

The old system, which the University used for about five years, was becoming obsolete, said Joel Weidner, Housing and Food Services information system coordinator. Weidner said that the old system's capacity was so taxed that its scanners could not accommodate new features.

The new system allows students to check their account balances without using any points, Wandel said. It also indicates if a student has an account and allows food service officials to "look at operating hours and open earlier or stay open later, depending on where peak time is," Wandel said.

The new system consists of two computers: one computer operates the card readers, and another keeps track of students' accounts, Weidner said.

Wandel said some students mistakenly believe the new system takes longer than the previous one because the new system displays students' account information three times. Wandel said Housing and Food Services officials plan to change the system to display the information only once.

Both Rob Dimeo (senior-physics) and Rick Wilkinson (senior-physics) said the new system seemed to take longer, but the wait did not cause any difficulties.

"It's no problem because you're waiting in line anyway," Wilkinson said.

Wandel said no matter how quickly students are processed, the serving line can only dish out the food so fast.

Even though some students have no problem with the change, a few students including Louisa Ernst (senior-health policy management) are finding adjustment to the change difficult. Ernst said she found the dollar display confusing.

"I don't like it because I can't relate to the dollar value when I'm used to points," Ernst said, adding that freshmen unaccustomed to the point system may react differently.

"I just haven't caught on yet," she said.