Do you feel like you are getting cheated on meal swipes? The math doesn’t add up for how much meal swipes actually equate to. Since two of the four dining halls only take meal swipes, this is a big issue because it’s dealing with students’ money and their daily meal. After number crunching and going through a pack of pencils, here is what I discovered about the current meal plan system and meal swipes.
1. Problem
Students are not getting their money’s worth when it comes to paying for meals. Meal swipes are not equalling the value of what students are eating. As for dining halls like Crimson and the Bear’s Den, it’s hard to make 210, 500, or 700 dining dollars last all semester. Students are forced to either use up their meal swipes or recharge their card with more dining dollars. There are 210 weekdays in a semester, also have to account for the fact of students staying over the weekend. Is there going to be enough coverage for the whole semester?
2. What I found
By examining each meal plan, I found that there is no set value for meal swipes. Since dining dollars are the same as real cash, minus it from the total, and then divide by the meals. What I found was the price of what a meal swipe equalled to.
Example: The Platinum Plan
- $1,987 (total cost) – 700 (dining dollars) = $1,287 / 150 (meals) = $8.58 per meal
The meal swipes for some plans don’t add up to what people are actually eating. The Gold plan’s meal swipes are approximately $7.29; Silver Plan is $15.92 for a meal swipe; Bronze plan is approximately $10.07 per meal swipe. Why is there different dollar amounts to each meal swipe? It doesn’t seem reasonable for students to pay for a whole meal plan if meals don’t actually have the same value. Platinum and Gold have reasonable prices, but Silver doesn’t pull it’s weight. Unless you expect to eat gourmet every time you swipe your card for a meal, then get the Silver meal plan.
If you look at the prices of Tilly, Platinum and Gold are close to the actual prices of breakfast, lunch/brunch, dinner and even themed dinners. Silver plan and Bronze are over-inflated.
3. Suggestions
From examining each meal plan and it’s costs, I feel that the Platinum plan is the better overall option. With 700 dining dollars and 150 meal swipes, a student can have a good balance for meal selection. They could go eat freely at each dining hall without a worry of running out of either dining dollars or meal swipes towards the end of the semester. What’s good about the meal swipes is that they are guaranteed meals. With the mix of dollars and swipes, there should be enough coverage to get through a semester. If people stay over the weekend, then they might need some extra dining dollars, but that’s the only exception. If I have to choose meal plans all over again, I’d stick with the Platinum plan.
What plan do you have? Are you happy with it? Do you feel you have enough coverage?
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