Are Credit Cards more Cost Efficient than Meal Plans?

My opinion editorial is on the scam of meal plans. Meals plan should be recommended for students, but not required. Many are spending unnecessary money when really a credit card would be more cost efficient.

Freshmen year can be a difficult time for many students because busy schedules can be hard to manage and thus eating food can be put on the back burner. With a fixed amount on one’s dining plans, a lot can be unused. Accounts can become back logged with twenty to even 70 dollars of unspent money. What makes these plans a money maker for the university is that if the balance goes over a certain amount, money is lost and not refunded. The result can be the unnecessary and wasteful spending of money by students who don’t want to lost money to the university. This is the biggest problem with all dining plans. They require the user to spend an amount that may not always be used on a weekly basis. It would make a lot more sense to simply use a visa or any other type of credit card. This money would be coming from essentially the same source. It doesn’t matter if you are using a dining plan or credit card; the money is coming from the same bank account. The only difference would be that with a credit card you are not required to spend a certain amount of money. With these similarities and differences in mind, having a meal plan really is not as cost efficient as a credit card.
A lot of students see these meals plan as great way to manage money, but if in reality you are not spending your entire plan on necessary food, than money is being lost or squandered. College is the time for young adults to learn to be become frugal with their money; however, many seem to use far too big of meal plans and never learn this valuable principle. If students never learn this then their livelihood could be in grave danger of unnecessary spending. Heritage Hall residents are the main abusers of meal plans. They have a kitchen, thus they can make meals in their dorm and not also have to eat out at places like the Cougareat, Legend’s Grille or the Cannon Center.

Do these paragraphs seem like they would positively effect administrators who could be able to change BYU's meal plan policy?