New Meal Plan Pricing

[ssa053000]

My brother will be a freshman, living in the on-campus apartments at UTD this fall. In helping him with some of his transition to UTD, I found that even the freshmen living in the apartments, which have kitchens, are required to purchase meal plans. I understand that required meal plans could be beneficial to those who live in the new residence hall, where a community kitchen may not be convenient for all the residents in one floor to use at once, and having an option for apartment residents to purchase meal plans could be convenient as well. However, having it required for those who choose to live in apartments is completely unnecessary.

Even UTD insists that meal plans should be required, the pricing is ridiculous! The cheapest meal plan is $955 for 99 meals/semester. Including tax, this comes out to over $10 per meal. The more expensive meal plans are discounted per meal, but the unit price still comes to over $9 per meal. For college students, in general, this is outrageous!!!

[mbk061000]

The price for the smallest meal plan actually still works out to be less expensive than buying the same number of meals at dinner/weekend brunch. The 99 meals for $955 plan includes $100 dining dollars, the flexible cash that can be used at any of the eateries on campus. Once you subtract that, it's $855 for 99 meals + 2 guest passes. That totals to $8.47 per meal. Dinner & weekend brunch prices are $8.50 a meal.

The 7 meals/week plan is a better value (more meals total) for the same price, but only if you use all seven (and only seven) a week.

(See http://www.dineoncampus.com/utdallasdin ... sResidence )

[cnb083000]

My brother will be a freshman, living in the on-campus apartments at UTD this fall. In helping him with some of his transition to UTD, I found that even the freshmen living in the apartments, which have kitchens, are required to purchase meal plans. I understand that required meal plans could be beneficial to those who live in the new residence hall, where a community kitchen may not be convenient for all the residents in one floor to use at once, and having an option for apartment residents to purchase meal plans could be convenient as well. However, having it required for those who choose to live in apartments is completely unnecessary.

Even UTD insists that meal plans should be required, the pricing is ridiculous! The cheapest meal plan is $955 for 99 meals/semester. Including tax, this comes out to over $10 per meal. The more expensive meal plans are discounted per meal, but the unit price still comes to over $9 per meal. For college students, in general, this is outrageous!!!

Holy crap, that IS abserd...what kind of college student can afford that? Its ridiculous...

I probably would not have attended UTDallas had I been required to purchase one. No wonder so many students are graduating with debt right now, with schools charging inflated (far over market) prices for both housing (compare to any apartment within five miles, waterview is 25% higher), food, materials (God forbid buying a $12 notebook at the campus store), parking, and whatever else they can.

[mbk061000]

Holy crap, that IS abserd...what kind of college student can afford that? Its ridiculous...

I probably would not have attended UTDallas had I been required to purchase one. No wonder so many students are graduating with debt right now, with schools charging inflated (far over market) prices for both housing (compare to any apartment within five miles, waterview is 25% higher), food, materials (God forbid buying a $12 notebook at the campus store), parking, and whatever else they can.

Chase, compare to any other university: what are the required meal plans, cost of housing, parking, and other supplies at UT-Austin? UH? UNT? Tech? Are our costs any higher than any other universities? Off-campus prices are far from relevant...