A fresh meal plan for first-years

As the year winds down, food points dwindle and study obligations increase, the pressure for freshmen to both use swipes at the Marketplace and maximize study time spent on West Campus can easily become overwhelming, temporally and financially. The first-year meal plan creates anxiety in planning when and where to eat and poses challenges for students on financial aid. Unanimous opinion supports adoption of a more conscientious and convenient meal plan for first-year students, some of whom are forced to use flex points for those final days at the end of semesters.

The Marketplace remains a staple of the first-year experience, acting as a social incubator for friendships and familiarity. At first glance, its proximity to the first-year dorms may provide a convenient eating venue. These apparent benefits, however, do not outweigh the shortcomings of Marketplace. The approximately $27 allotted to first-years for the Marketplace each day could better be applied toward other vendors. Moreover, the inequivalent equivalency exchange, about $12 per day, precludes students from reaping the full benefit of the price they pay from tuition. Actually using the $8 dinner equivalency is quite inconvenient, as students must report to East Campus within specific time intervals in order to do so, preventing prolonged studying on West Campus.

Even for students who claim their equivalency, the variety and quantity of food offered remains limited. The current plan offers students only two meals per day, with the expectation to spend food points on lunch. Quantity and quality suffer at the Trinity Cafe, where students can order a reheated sandwich at best and can expect ham and cheese on white bread at worst. The long line after 9 p.m. in the Trinity Cafe and the ever-dwindling supply of food raise the question of whether quantity meets demand for both equivalency and the Marketplace itself. Do students value the unique social engagement of Marketplace over convenience of eating and using equivalency elsewhere?

The food plans adopted at other universities provide insight on how to better allocate the first-year meal plan funds at Duke. Stanford University allows students to choose meal plans that vary in their distribution of swipes and food points, allowing students to frequent the dining hall as often as their schedule allows. The University of Michigan allows students unlimited swipes and a varying degree of food point expenditure. Adopting more flexible and financially sustainable meal plan possibilities similar to those would create more equitable options for students who cannot afford to pay for food from flex when food points run low.

At a minimum, we believe the University ought to allot students the equivalent dollar value lost when foregoing a Marketplace meal. Additionally, we would like to see equivalency accepted on West Campus at designated locations. As of now, only Penn Pavilion accepts equivalency and only at lunch time. Providing a greater variety of meal plans to first-years would benefit students on financial aid since aid packages do not assess out-of-pocket expenditures for meals. Going forward, the University should track and publish data on student usage of the Marketplace, noting peak times and salient trends to accommodate food supply and options for students skipping Marketplace meals. Hopefully, such data may provide insight as to how to better accommodate students who, under the current meal plan, must worry for their money and their time.