Students will be able to use meal plan points to cover purchases they made at Mick’s Restaurant last semester, GW Associate Vice President for Business Affairs Al Ingle said Wednesday.

The decision came after letters from the GWorld card office notified students last week they owed money for meals Mick’s erringly charged to “meal plan points” instead of GWorld debit accounts.

The letter from GWorld Card Program Manager Michelle Neyers asked students to pay their balance with cash, check, credit card or funds from their debit accounts.

But according to the letter, students could not foot the unpaid bills with meal plan points – the tender they thought they were using when they ate at Mick’s.

Strict regulations govern the use and tax status of meal plan points, restricting their use to on-campus dining facilities. Funds in GWorld debit accounts are taxable, and valid at on- and off-campus eateries.

Ingle said last week it is the University’s policy “not to co-mingle the meal points and debit accounts.”

But after heated student reaction to Neyers’ letter, Ingle said the University decided to allow a one-time exception to its policy.

“Students thought they were using points – it’s only right that we make an exception to allow them to do that,” Ingle said.

Neyers said complaints to the GWorld card office died down at the end of last week, but she said the University formally will respond to about 10 of the letters it received from students and parents.

As University administrators work out the latest glitch in the infant GWorld program, plans for the next phase of the all-in-one card program are being finalized.

At last Friday’s Board of Trustees’ meeting, administrators announced plans to add The Burro, Capitol Grounds, DJ’s Fastbreak and World Gourmet to the program. Ingle said the restaurants will accept funds from student debit accounts by April.

The program will include at least 10 off-campus eateries by the time students return in the fall, Ingle said.

Neyers and Ingle said the new off-campus partners will be connected to the University by modem, allowing instant access to the availability of students’ debit funds.

The new system should eliminate the problem Mick’s encountered last semester, Neyers said. Previously, off-campus merchants were required to manually check transactions against a printout to determine if a student had the funds to back up a purchase.

“They’ll know immediately if (a student) doesn’t have the debit funds to make a purchase,” Neyers said. “This will be pretty much fool-proof.”

Ingle said the University expects “100 percent accuracy” with the new modem system.