The Meal Plan Scandal

College life can be a very exciting time for many upcoming freshmen. A brand new environment, many new friends to make and no more constant supervision by parents means teenagers can finally become the responsible adults they have waited so long to become. However, this new life also comes with many new expenses. Tuition, boarding costs and the issue of food are just a fraction of this list. Many of these expenses have probably never been a worry for most students because they have always expected their parents to pay for everything. New students living in on-campus housing have an even bigger predicament: which meal plan is right for them? With these students mandated to own a meal plan, many fear they will either not have enough on their card to eat or just simply will be wasting the hard, earned money of their parents. Living on your own can be difficult at first to know how much money you need to have ample amount of food. It is hard to judge how much one will use because it varies from person to person. Thus meal plans should not be mandatory for on-campus students, but be strongly recommended by the university for them to buy. If students feel that it will benefit them by relieving stress, then they can purchase a plan, but if they deem it an unnecessary expense then they need not be required to buy such a plan.
Freshmen year can be a difficult time for many students because busy schedules can be hard to manage and making time to buy and eat food can be put on the back burner. With a fixed amount on one’s meal plans, a lot can be unused. Meal plans can become back logged with twenty to even 70 plus dollars of unspent money. What makes these plans have even more of a downside is that if the balance goes over a specified amount, the continuing accumulation of money is lost and will never be refunded. The result can be the unnecessary and wasteful spending of money by students who don’t want to lose this money because they didn’t spend enough. A possible solution to this problem if meal plans are not removed would be to have the accumulated money not have the possibility of being lost. If this dilemma was solved, then meal plans would be a beneficial option for students and there would be nothing negative about the plans.
However, because meal plans are still mandated by the university for on-campus students and losing money is still a problem for all dining plans, these plans don’t seem cost efficient enough to be required to use. A better option would be to simply use some sort of debit card. This money would be coming from essentially the same source. It wouldn’t matter if you are using a meal plan or debit card; the money is coming from the same bank account. The only difference would be that with a debit card you would not be required to spend a certain amount of money; you only have to spend how much you need to spend. With these similarities and differences in mind, having a meal plan is not as cost efficient as a debit card.
A lot of students see these meals plan as great way to manage money. With them, the issue of food money becomes less stressful because you know how much you will be paying per week. What students don’t realize is that if you are not spending your entire plan on necessary food, then money is being wasted that could be saved. College is the time for young adults to learn to be become frugal with their money; yet, many seem to allow themselves to use far too big of meal plans causing them to never learn this valuable life principle. If students never learn this, then their livelihood could be in grave danger of unnecessary spending and possibly even debt. Heritage Hall residents are the main victims of these meal plans. They have a kitchen that allows them to make meals in their dorm. They can save a lot more money by making their own meals and not needing to go eat out at places like the Cougareat, Legend’s Grille and the Cannon Center. With a kitchen at hand, students have no need for a meal plan and can make less costly meals, saving money.
Helaman Hall’s residents are the only students that can truly benefit from the use of a meal plan. They have no kitchen, so they cannot cook their own food. The Cannon Center is the only close place they can get a well balance meal. Also, with the Dining Plus meal plan, they can get a greatly reduced rate on food than that of other plans and debit cards. With this reasoning in mind, meal plans should therefore not be completely removed from campus use. This is why plans should only be strongly recommended for students, but not required for on-campus freshmen. There are a few benefits to the plans, but if you can cook and need to save money, then going without a meal plan makes a lot more economical sense.
Therefore, if the mandatory rule of meal plans was removed, but highly recommended for students use, then those with no money worries could acquire a dining plan and not have to worry about the possibility of losing money if they don’t spend the necessary amount on their plan. Those students who do have money worries would thus not have to buy a plan that could mean wasteful spending and even the potential of losing money. This recommendation would help out the whole student body. No matter your circumstances, a dining plan could be used, but not mandatory. Students living in Helaman Halls would still benefit because they would still be able to have the reduced rates at the Cannon Center by using a plan, but also frugality could be learned by many more. Without the requirement of a meal plan, many would thus learn to spend money more wisely and not spend money on things that are not completely necessary. This would help bring people future economic benefits because they would learn early to spend money wisely and then not be tempted to go into unnecessary debt.
In closing, the mandatory meal plan requirement for on-campus students is completely unneeded. It gives students a false sense of security to know that they don’t have to manage one part of all their financial endeavors, but really if students could see the cost efficiency of using a debit card, they would see that they could save more money without a meal plan. Therefore, meal plans should be highly recommended for students, but not required. If students desire a plan or not should not be the question, it should be if the student can afford to buy a meal plan that will make them spend more money. If the answer is no, than students should rethink their meal plan and live on a debit card for all their spending needs. There is no reason to have two cards that do practically the same things. The only way to make meal plans beneficial would be to have no limit on how much money could be acquired on an account. If the university would allow this, than having a meal plan would make food buying less stressful and not a waste of money. If the limit is not removed than students should just use their debit card that does essentially the same thing as a meal plan