Last night, the Student Government Association passed a crucial bill revamping the current unsatisfactory meal plan. Next year, all students will be required to buy a $200 meal plan each semester which will provide $150 flex points and $50 to cover overhead costs. The purpose of the new meal plan is to improve the quality of the food, extend the operating hours of campus dining facilities and bring two new dining options to campus.
The final decision was passed with 37 to 10 majority, with two senators abstaining from the vote. In the end, most of the SGA was swayed by the meal plan survey conducted online earlier this week. Of the 1592 students who responded to the survey, 61.74 percent are residents and 38.26 percent are commuters.
"One of the hopes of a mandatory meal plan is that we even out costs a little bit," said Adam Meister, SGA president. Under the current meal plan, students are paying an exorbitant amount every time they swipe for a meal and bearing the significant brunt of Chartwells overhead costs.
By the numbers, under the existing plan, five meals runs about $17.07 per meal, eight meals are $12.33, 10 meals are $10.30, and 14 meals are $8.30. The Block plan costs $14.27 per meal.
The new plan will alleviate this problem, making all meals around $6 since all undergraduate students will be paying the $50 fee to cover the overhead expenses.
"They can't give us a specific number, but it'll be closer to the $6 mark," said Cari Johns, a cosponsor of the bill and member of SGA's meal plan committee, who conducted the survey and wrote the bill.
It was reported that all Washington University students are required to pay a similar fee and enjoy quality food and multiple dining options as a result.
The new dining options are slated to open within the next two years, the first of which will be a branded fast food-type venue, opening in fall 2005. The second is scheduled to open in fall 2006 and will be a Chartwells operated dining facility.
"Chartwells can offer an alternative to any restaurant or concept, but to ensure the success of a concept I would rather bring in the name brand," said Meister.
The name brand is yet to be decided, but "ultimately" will be determined by the students.
"Part of the survey was for students to have the final say in what those options are," said Meister.
The big controversy with passing the bill was whether or not it was equitable to make commuter students and apartment residents buy a meal plan when 50.46 percent voted that they would not be willing to buy a lower-priced flex meal plan, even with more restaurant options on campus.
Sophomore Nathan Wineinger, of the John Cook School of Business, thinks that the current meal plan prices are ridiculously unfair, and advocated a plan that would have commuters paying the $50 overhead fee but opting out of the meal plan.
"I think that it is entirely unfair for resident students to pay such high overhead, but by the same token, I don't think that it is fair for commuters to pay(for dining facilities) when they don't use it," said Wineinger.
"I'm also interested in why the price is so exorbitant; it's obscene," Wineinger said. "I don't think we're being told the whole story."
Junior Jim Swift, also of the Business school, represented a divergent commuter opinion.
"I'm a commuter. Charge me," said Swift. "I'm OK with that. Improve the food."
An amendment of the bill proposes a minor surcharge on all cash transactions for students to inveigle commuters and apartment residents to use their flex points on campus.
"Believe it or not, a lot of schools require all students to live on campus all four years and require all students to buy a meal plan," said Kathy Humphrey, vice president of Student Development.
"The more people on a plan, the more options we can create," Humphrey said. "This would be the first meal plan that (the flex points) would be dollar for dollar."
Freshmen residents will have to purchase the block meal plan with flex points so they can learn how to budget their flex points and meals. This rule will not apply to first-year transfer students.
"There's kind of a learning curve to this system," said Humphrey.
The $200 price tag of the new plan will generate $400,000 in revenue for the university.
"[That's] Enticing for a company like Chipotle who has to make a revenue requirement," Meister said. "I think that with this passing, we've ensured that we can bring new options to campus and improve what we already have on campus. And the students will benefit from it."
