A Piece of Our Mind: Meal plans unfair to first-year students.
Sep 26th, 2009 | By Chelsea Brasted | Category: Opinion Column
The University is cashing in on your dining experience — and you can’t do anything to stop them. LSU Dining, the service that administers on-campus dining, provides all students who request one — and many who don’t — with a meal plan each semester. These plans range in price from $1,377 to $1,564 and are mandatory for all first-year students who live on campus.
These students are being taken advantage of, especially when you compare the cost of a meal plan at LSU to the prices of meal plans at other universities in the Southeastern Conference. Ten of the 12 SEC universities have a mandatory meal plan system in place. Guess who charges the most per meal? Our fair Louisiana State University.
A first-year student at LSU that purchases the Tiger Lite plan — the cheapest of the meal plans offered to first-year students who live on campus — pays $9.47 per meal. In comparison, first-year students at the University of Florida who purchase the Open-Access 5 Day plan — the cheapest of any meal plan offered there — pay an average of only $3.79 per meal.
But the differences don’t stop there. A first-year student at LSU who purchases the Resident Tiger plan — the most expensive of any meal plan offered to first-year students who live on campus — gets a small break, but still pays $8.28 per meal. That still pales in comparison to all other conference universities where the most expensive meal plans have prices ranging from $3.25 to $7.36 per meal.
Students aren’t just being unfairly treated in comparison to other SEC universities. Those students with meal plans will always pay the same set price—between $8.28 and $9.47, depending on the plan— for every meal. However, anyone without a plan will pay only $5.71 for breakfast or $8.77 for lunch at the 459 Dining Hall.
Jason Tolliver, director of University auxiliary services, said meal plans are mandated “because of [the University’s] fundamental belief that good nutrition is essential to our students’ academic success.”
Demanding that a student pay a premium price to eat is unjust when you consider the hours of operation for the dining halls. If the University was so concerned about “good nutrition,” dining halls wouldn’t close at 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
What options are left after the dining halls close? McDonald’s, Papa Johns, Taco Bell and Chick-fil-A remain open and offer limited menus. Talk about good nutrition.
Students get to gorge themselves on Big Macs, waffle fries, and beef burritos when the weekend comes because it’s part of LSU’s plan to provide “balance to students,” according to Tolliver.
Tolliver clearly didn’t review the National Institute of Health’s studies showing that eating fast food more than twice per week puts healthy young adults at risk for excessive weight gain and type-2 diabetes.
Tolliver also makes an argument that dining halls help students meet new people. But is that really necessary?
Beyond seeing new people in dorms and classes, campus life allows for regular interaction with fellow classmates. Late Night at LSU, tailgating and inner-residential hall activities provide many social opportunities to meet people and forge new bonds.
The University should allow all students the opportunity to forgo their meal plan. At the very least, they should come up with a plan to lower prices to closer match other schools in the SEC. Another option would be to keep dining halls open longer. As it is, LSU is demanding an exorbitant price for an unsatisfactory product. LSU Dining should cater the students, not its own bank account.
*All prices do not include commuter or unlimited plans, and don’t include tax. 459 Dining Hall prices don’t include tax. All SEC meal plan information was obtained from each Universities dining Web site.
Photograph by Benjamin Oliver Hicks
I didn’t realize that it cost so much for students to eat at the dining halls. I honestly don’t remember how much it cost me to eat at the dining halls when I was at LSU in the late 80s, but I’m sure that it didn’t cost around $9.00 a meal. As for Tolliver’s clain that it’s a great way to meet people, that’s not very accurate. I remember seeing most people either eating by themselves reading a book, or sitting with a small group of friends that were probably made during the multitude of other social activitite on campus. Thanks for the informative article. I am interested to hear the university’s side of the story and see what the President or Chancelor has to say about it, too. I bet they aren’t even aware of it.
Well done Chelsea for bringing this unfair policy to the readers’ and school’s attention. In my opinion, and in my experience, when a package of meals, or any product for that matter, is purchased, a discount is offered. I have never seen before that the price actually is increased! The policy and price must change. Again, kudos to you!