Sodexo at the University of Louisville: Mandatory meal plans....for commuters?

Mandatory meal plans for on-campus residents are not always popular amongst students, but, contrary to popular belief, there is one good thing about such meal plans: they often beget creativity.  At Virginia Tech University, a program has been established that gives the money left on  meal plans at the end of the semester to an organization that helps feed those in need.  At Northwestern University, where Sodexo is the food service contractor, students created an online survey to help you figure out how much money you waste per week based on your meal plan and how many meals you eat—as of May 27th, 2009, 670 ‘readers’ reported that they had wasted a total of $11,940 in a typical week. 

Unfortunately for students who would prefer to have a choice about the food that they eat and buy, mandatory meals are a common feature of campus life.  Until recently, however, the only mandatory meal plans that I had encountered had been for campus residents…

…which is why this news[1] from the University of Louisville took me by surprise.  The University of Louisville (where the campus food service provider is Sodexo) is going to make $175 per semester meal plans mandatory for commuter students.  Yes…commuter students…not first year students…not campus residents…mandatory meal plans for students who live off campus.   Commuter students are going to be forced to pay $175 for food they may or may not want to eat.  The new meal plan policy will start this fall.

In addition to making meal plans mandatory for commuter students, the 2008 contract with Sodexo makes meals mandatory for all campus residents (as opposed to only first years) and increases the price for first year residents without kitchens to $1165 for ’09-’10 from $995 (an increase to $1,460 is scheduled for ’10-’11).  (You can view the Sodexo-University of Louisville contract, which lays out this new policy in Attachment D on page 32, here.)  

A number of students and their families are concerned over the commuter aspect of the new meal plan policy.  Shelly Howe the mother of a University of Louisville student expressed the crux of the matter to the Courier-Journal:  “It’s the principle of it.  I am going to pay for something my son is never going to use.”   

U of L student Michelle Noel also expressed her concern over the financial implications of the plan to the Louisville Cardinal:  “My money has to go to my child.  I don’t have money to spend.  Basically, U of L’s food is a little more expensive.  Freshman may need it, but I think anyone else should have the option to not get it.” 

Student Chelsea Brown voiced her opinion on the matter as well to the Louisville Cardinal:  “People who don’t live on campus are going to have to eat while they’re there at awkward times or spend money on unhealthy food. I can cook at home, that’s healthier and cheaper.”

It’s completely ridiculous that the University of Louisville is forcing nearly all of its full time undergraduate students (commuters plus campus residents) to pay for Sodexo meal plans, whether they want to eat at Sodexo outlets or not.  As the quotes above suggest (as well as the comments on this October 2008 Louisville Cardinal article)  there are certainly many students who are unhappy with this new policy, and rightfully so.   There’s even a facebook group, Stop the Mandatory Meal Plan at U of L, that’s been established to fight this new requirement.  But don’t worry it’s all OK because, according to U of L Student Activities Director Tim Moore, as expressed to the Louisville Cardinal, students will most likely spend the money anyway:

‘Many students are here on campus three days a week at least,’ said Moore.  ‘Many more are here five days a week with classes.’  He continued that if a student spends three days on campus per week, as most students currently do, and spend around $6 per day, they will spend $17.36 per week which would use up the entire $250 plan.

Students whose financial situations or food purchasing decisions do not align with this convenient formula were not addressed by Moore in the October 6th, 2008 Louisville Cardinal article. 

There are problems with the mandatory meal systems even when they are not forced upon commuters.  The fact that a university is going to force almost all students—even those with  off-campus kitchens and a pantry full of groceries—to contribute  their money to food service revenue is definitely a huge issue of concern.   It’s an unnecessary tax on students that needs to be stopped before it becomes the new standard in university dining.