Gone are the days of Premium and Flex plans. The new plans have names like 100 Block and 5 Day All Access. Also different are where students can redeem their meal equivalencies – meal swipes can only be accepted at Commons. Bridgett Stapleton, Resident District Manager for Aramark explained that there were logical reasons behind the change.

“We hadn’t changed meal plans in approximately 10 years, so to be completely honest, our meal plans compared to our competitors – competitor universities – were a little outdated. Some may say that they weren’t very user friendly, some may say that there wasn’t much value in the meal plan…which we agreed with. So we worked with the university to come up with new meal plans that added more flexibility…and yes, more value,” says Stapleton

The new meal plan options for residents are the 200 Block, with 200 meals and 500 dining dollars, that works out to approximately $9.23 per meal; the 100 block, with 100 meals and 1000 dining dollars which works out to 12.25 per meal, the 5 day all access, with unlimited visits to the Commons any five days of the week and 400 dining dollars which comes out to $23.69 a day, and the freshman exclusive 7 day all access, which offers unlimited access to commons and 100 dining dollars that comes out to $23.57 a day.

Stapleton says that while the cost per meal might seem high, it’s important for students to realize that there’s more to it than that.

“There is the cost of the meal, but I think people forget the cost of the service that comes with the meal, and if they say ‘my time is free, my gas is free if I go grocery shopping’…but it’s not.”

Stapleton encourages any student who still has questions to contact her directly at .