As a junior moving off campus for senior year, I am facing many new choices. One of these choices is whether or not to purchase a meal plan.
My most likely option would be 25 meals for $297, but that would be nearly $12 a meal! I don't usually plan on paying $12 for a typical meal during my senior year of college.
Obviously, I realized I should select a different plan. But after looking through all of the other options, there were no plans that offered a rate of less than $10 a meal, and that's only if I use all the meals.
But the problem is, it's not just about price, I see a meal plan for senior year as a great way to connect with campus life still, so that I am on campus not only for football games and classes, but to hang out and be part of the campus community that I love.
Along these lines, my roommates and I sat in our common room Saturday afternoon, when our friend mentioned that there were burritos at North Dining Hall that night. Another person remarked that he wanted some Chipotle. And suddenly, we came up with a great plan for North Dining Hall. What if the dining hall just picked up hundreds of meals from Chipotle?
Ordering meals would be perfect. It is often difficult to decide how much food should be made, and often students take more than they need, only to throw it away (except on Waste Wednesdays!). The dining hall wouldn't have to worry about preparing all the food and the students would enjoy an occasional meal delivered to campus.
Plus we realized that Notre Dame would be making money from the meal plans (even with the additional costs of running the dining hall), so everything would work out perfectly.
Also, can we have Philly cheese steak and buffalo wings on separate nights? It's too stressful choosing between the two.
Food for thought (oh snap).
Dennis Smith
junior
Keenan Hall
Nov. 5
