For students living on campus, meal plans are often the most convenient alternative to grocery shopping or relying on off-campus restaurants. Despite the fact that meal plans offer a lot of perks, they come with drawbacks that prevent students from fully enjoying them. FSU needs to reshape its meal plans to better serve students.
Florida State University’s (FSU) current meal plans range in price from the lowest tier, costing $858 per semester, to the highest, costing $2,998 per semester. Each meal plan comes with meal swipes, which credit $7 daily to meal purchases at most on-campus restaurants and provide entrance into FSU’s dining halls.
Many meals at on campus restaurants are more expensive than a single swipe can offer. For example, a $10.10 plate at Panda Express, located in FSU’s Student Union, or a $12.50 12-inch pizza from Joe Mama’s, located in 1851, cannot be fully covered by the $7 credit. Students must use other funds to cover the rest of their meal, which dips into already scarce wallets…