Students push University of Georgia to revise meal plans

ATHENS, Ga. — In response to student desire and opinion, the Office of Auxiliary Services is beginning the process of revising and adding to the meal plan.

“Student feedback is critical because what we do is serve the food for the students,” said Robert Holden, Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services

Last semester, the Student Government Association held Shout Week — a week designed for students to tell their government and the University what they would like to change on campus, said SGA Treasurer Brittany Arnold.

“The meal plan was the number one option that students wanted to see changed,” said Arnold, a junior business major from Roswell. “Students wanted to see varied meal plans and commuter meal plans. They wanted to see some healthier options and longer hours in the dining halls. Really it was more than we even expected.”

Off-campus and commuter students were particularly vocal about meal plan revisions.

“I think it would be really beneficial for me. I walk to campus, and it takes about 20 minutes. By the time I get there I don’t really want to turn around and go home for lunch,” said Kate

Twillmann, a senior marketing major from Basking Ridge, New Jersey. “I was deterred from purchasing the meal plan because there was no way I would get enough bang for my buck if I ate most of my dinners and breakfasts at home. However, with the new dining hall so close, if they did create a lunch only meal plan I would definitely take advantage of it.”

Another issue students have with the current meal plan is that it is expensive to pay per meal.

“I would buy the lunch plan if it was once a day and if it were a cheaper price than what Bolton serves,” said Paige McSherry, junior Earth Science Education major from Newnan. “I know it’s about 12 dollars per day, and that’s pretty expensive for one meal.”

The main thing that Auxiliary Services wants to do in revising the meal plan is to listen to student concerns.

“Come fall, we will definitely have some different options available,” Holden said,” but we want to be able to explore it much deeper before we just go out and introduce something. We want to get the information from the students so that we move in the right direction instead of just making a knee jerk reaction to what we think we are hearing.”