As the semester winds down, students find themselves in a constant state of anxiety: finals, extra credit…too much money left on their meal plans.
That’s right. On top of the pressure of finishing the semester strong, Saint Xavier residents are worrying over the loss of meal plan money. Money that commuters don’t have to worry about because they don’t even get the option of buying a meal plan.
The Xavierite staff believes this needs to be changed. Instead of only having Commuter Dining Dollars, commuters should have the option to purchase a meal plan, just as residents do.
The University offers several meal plans for residents, and those who live in Regina Hall (RA’s included) must purchase the second largest plan: $2,310. The very largest meal plan is around $2,400.
Upperclassmen are allowed to choose which meal plan they would like, with the smallest plan being $1,600.
Meal plans can be spent at places like Starbucks, Coffee Cats, Rhubarbs, the Diner, even Gilhooley’s.
However, meal plan dollars do not roll over into the following semester: money that was not used goes back to the school. What for? No one knows.
Meanwhile, commuter students aren’t even given the option to purchase a meal plan. Instead, commuters are given the option to load money onto their Cougar Card. However, these “Dining Dollars” are such a hassle.
Commuters load their money onto their card via the GetFunds website. Yet, the cost of food on campus is extremely high.
Commuters would have to continually load money onto their cards to even make it through one month of classes.
Additionally, most commuters don’t even know about Dining Dollars.
When told, students appeared confused, saying they’d rather just use their debit card since it’s basically the same thing.
The Xavierite Staff thinks the University should at least offer commuters the option to purchase a meal plan.
The meal plan amount can be worked into the cost of tuition each year.
Instead of buying for only one semester, students could purchase an entire year’s worth of a meal plan. No more GetFunds, no more “Dining Dollars.”
While residents obviously need a meal plan, commuters get hungry too, and should at least have the choice to buy a meal plan.
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