New meal plan not sitting well with pre-frosh

As high school students from around the nation flood campus for Penn Previews, prospective Penn students and parents are expressing concern over the University's recent decision that will require all incoming freshmen to purchase a full meal plan. Under the new plan, freshmen will be required to buy a 17-meal-per-week plan during their first semester. During their second semester, they can either upgrade to 19 meals per week or downgrade to 14 meals per week. But at no point during their freshman year will students be able to choose plans that offer less than 14 meals per week. Aaron Lawee, a pre-frosh from Marblehead, Mass., who is staying on campus for Penn Previews, said that he was troubled by the size of the required plan. "You basically have to eat 17 meals a week, and that's a lot to me," Lawee said. "I just don't think it's a very good plan." And some prospective students said that they were concerned about the size of the plan because of the quality of food that they expect from the dining halls. Katherine Brill from Bethasda, Md., and Kristin Meliambro from Long Island, N.Y., both said that they didn't like the plan, especially given what they heard about the reputation of Penn's dining service. "I'm hearing that the food isn't that great and students don't really use the dining halls much anyway," Meliambro said. Administrators are maintaining that the changes were made to give financial stability to Dining Services, improve the quality of service and create community among students. Officials say that the change was necessary despite the fact that the vast majority of Penn freshman already purchase meal plans. "It's to create stability," Director of College Houses and Academic Services David Brownlee said. "It's fundamentally a pricing matter." Brownlee also said that the new plan may improve the quality of dining. "I think we all know, and dining knows, that dining has to serve food that's better, food that has more variety and better matches what students want when they want it," Brownlee said. Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta said that changes in dining revenue had influenced the decision, though he would not call the changes a problem. "I wouldn't characterize it as financial problems, but we're certainly beginning to see changes in the revenue stream," Moneta said. Moneta also emphasized the fact that the new plan will only affect students during their freshman year. "Clearly, we haven't developed a plan beyond the first-year experience," Moneta said. "[Upperclassmen] have the opportunity to use any other number of options." Most schools in the Ivy League and its peer group require meal plans in some form, at least during freshman year. Harvard and Yale universities, for instance, require students to have one for all four years. But not all schools, including Cornell University, require a specific kind of meal plan from their students -- as Penn will start doing with the Class of 2005. Similarly, most schools with similar meal plans to Penn's do not charge as much for comparable options. According to Princeton Director of Dining Services Stu Orefice, whose school requires two years of meal plans, Princeton's requirements represent a good balance between these two extremes. "If you look at the grand scheme of the Ivy League, people think that Princeton has the best of both worlds, because we're only two years," Orefice said. "It's kind of a hybrid." But Orefice noted that the addition of a large off-campus vendor -- similar to Penn's numerous food trucks, Houston Hall and Moravian Cafes -- has caused Princeton to rethink its requirements. "Most students here, now that we have a brand new retail center, would rather eat there," Orefice said. Next year, Princeton will offer its students seven meal plan options, ranging from 20 meals a week for $3,857 -- including 50 dining "points" -- to a points only option with a minimum cost of $250. Penn's 17-meal plan, priced at $3,444, is comparable with Princeton's top option. Students required to buy a meal plan at Princeton can chose from any of the top three, which include two options for 14 meals a week. And New York University, an urban school with a similar level of off-campus retail options as Penn, requires students living in its freshman residences to purchase a plan. However, freshmen who do not live in these residences are not required to buy a meal plan. NYU offers 11 meal plans -- including two Kosher options -- that range from $1,775 to $710 per semester. But NYU doesn't require a specific number of meals per week as Penn does, and their plans are priced at a much lower cost than the University's 17-meal per week option. At Boston University, another urban campus, students have the option of choosing from six meal plans, ranging from $3,440 for unlimited meals to $3,180 for 216 meals per year -- 108 per semester.

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