Where does the buffet stop and food theft start on campus?

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — When you're at a buffet, most of us know, you can't take food to go.  But what if you're a student, at a college cafeteria, and take-home food is the only way you'll have breakfast the next morning?

This is the situation for some students at UW-Eau Claire, but campus officials say the food taken home adds up, to the tune of $50,000. 

For many college students, meal plans provide all their food: and they're not cheap.

“$1,400 to $1,650 roughly,” says Charles Farrell, the Director of The University Centers.

Each plan has a set of rules.

“We encourage students to pick the one that works best for them.  They don't get to eat in and then take out,” says Farrell.

There is an exception; students can buy a UW-Eau Claire to-go container to take food with them.

“Five dollars is taken off their Blugold account and then when they take the container back five dollars is put back on,” says Farrell.

“At the same time it's like why go through all that trouble just to take one little sandwich?” says Hannah Seneczko, a sophomore at UWEC.

The General Manager of Blugold Dining said they lost an estimated amount of $50,000 due to food and tableware theft.