The adding of the 14-meal lunch-and-dinner plan two years ago was a marked improvement from the original, and rigid, 21-meal plan. By dint of their hectic and varying schedules, college students need flexibility in their dining options.
Amherst's comprehensive fee allocates $1650 per semester as the cost for meals. Everyone is charged the same amount, assuming that one does not receive financial aid, and regardless of how much one eats. In general, the average woman uninvolved in sports will be unable to eat as much as say, a male varsity athlete. Yet, is it fair to charge both of them the same amount of money for what they eat? Regardless of whether a student has a full scholarship or is paying the full price tag, it is a financial strain to attend this College. Thus, there should be a greater variety of meal plans, or perhaps a "points" system, to enable students to pay in proportion to what they eat.
Other options for improving the 14-meal plan include making it a two-meals-a-day plan, so that one could miss meals other than breakfast, or to adjust the amount of the bonus bucks deposit. Now set at the seemingly arbitrary amount of $100 per semester, it is much less than the total cost of breakfast for a semester-$270 with the AC Dollars discount-excluding Sunday breakfasts. If a student gives up breakfast, they should be given equal, or at least approximate, compensation for what they relinquish.
We do realize that the creation and administration of more options would be difficult and more expensive because as Director of Dining Services Charles Thompson says, "There is no direct relationship between the operation costs and the fee that the students are charged." Yet, surely, there must be some way in which student needs can be more flexibly accommodated. After all, being fed at the collegiate level is not a cheap affair, and in this case, we are the customers who should be satisfied.