The University’s Food Services wins national awards for its great menu options, food management and culinary excellence. One thing it isn’t recognized for: the variety of meal plans offered to students – especially off-campus students.

Nearly 96 percent of students who live on campus are on the meal plan. With back-to-back classes and short breaks, it’s quicker to run to one of the strategically placed four dining halls on campus instead of going back to a dorm to cook or make a mad dash to downtown.

So why doesn’t Food Services offer off-campus students the same convenience?

Many off-campus students say they avoid the meal plan because they end up eating breakfast and dinner in their off campus residences anyway. Why pay for a five-day meal plan if you’re only going to make it to the dining halls for lunch once a day?

Students who spend their entire day in classes on campus have limited options: The Eatery at Memorial Hall, Bulldog Caf� or the vending machines. The eatery and cafe aren’t bad – at least not the first 100 times you go to them. They just lack the variety of the dining halls.

The only other option is to sprint downtown, but that can leave very little time to scarf down a meal. Plus, downtown lunch costs can add up.

The University should offer a one-meal-a-day plan for off-campus students.

Imagine strolling into a dining hall with friends for a calm lunch break between afternoon classes, or grabbing an early dinner between evening classes. Imagine the variety of food.

Our Yellow Jacket rivals show great consideration for their off-campus folk. They offer three different meal plans, ranging from about $490 a semester to $725, designed especially for students who have very tight schedules but occasionally want to eat on campus.

Georgia State offers similar plans: six meals a week for $755 a semester or four meals a week for $675 a semester, leaving one day a week for students to eat out.

Meals at both schools can be eaten at any time of day, at any campus dining location throughout the week.

Our Food Services claims they already do much to accommodate off-campus students: extended dining hall hours so off-campus students have a chance to come back later at night and free parking in designated parking lots around campus for off-campus students who want to drive to the dining halls.

Their pricing is a good deal too. Lunch at the dining hall costs $8.65. A dinner costs $12. If you purchase the five-day meal plan, you pay $15.81 for your entire day’s meals. That’s a steal.

Even though later hours, free parking and good pricing are incentives for off-campus students to purchase the five-day meal plan, it doesn’t mean they’re satisfied.

Has Food Services ever considered it isn’t easy for all off-campus students to return to campus in later hours? Many off-campus students don’t have cars at school and rely on the Athens Transit bus system, which has some routes that stop running around 7 p.m. – meaning so much for later hours and free parking.

As for pricing, why should anyone pay $15.81 a day if all they’re going to need is one meal?

The University’s Food Services takes pride in having the largest number of off-campus students on the meal plan in the southeast. But you can’t boast that off-campus students are choosing your five-day plan when they aren’t being offered any other choice.

If our Food Services really wants to serve the students, they should consider offering alternative meal plans, such as a one-meal-a-day plan, to the off-campus students who want to be on the meal plan, but don’t want to be forced into paying for more than they eat.

- Naureen Kamdar is
a senior from Suwanee majoring in publication management