Overall, student meal plan participation has dropped by 4 percent this academic year, in contrast to the 10 percent increase recorded last fall.
These figures appear in a recently released report by Aramark, the corporation that runs Penn Dining Services. The report surveyed over 2,000 students and faculty members in order to gauge consumer preferences.
According to Aramark Communications Manager Kate Moran, despite the downturn, other numbers offer a better picture of the current dining situation -- including an increase in added Dining Dollars per meal plan and rising levels of customer satisfaction.
"The measure of success for us is customer satisfaction," said Moran, who added that not only has the number of Dining Dollar additions to meal plans risen by 139 percent over the past year, but also add-on meals have become more popular.
Though Dining Services continues to tweak its offerings following a dramatic overhaul of its structure two years ago, some students remain unhappy with the program and cost of the services.
"I think that [the changes] are really trivial. They're trying to legitimize themselves as a business -- it's good marketing, [but] I don't think it adds any value," College senior Dana Gredysa said.
Yet, Moran noted that Aramark and Dining Services work hard to respond to student needs and benchmark prices against the market.
"Certainly, we're a business, but we really do feel a responsibility to provide an environment where we're providing good food for students away from home," Moran said.
Though no significant changes to meal plan offerings have been made yet for the upcoming year, plans are under way to expand Just4You, a program pioneered at the start of the fall semester that aims to provide students with healthier and more convenient food options.
The student Dining Advisory Board, a monthly forum for meal plan holders to express their concerns and make recommendations to Dining Services, continues to play an important role in shaping meal plan choices.
Students are "more than willing to tell you what they want," said Jennifer Brennan, market program manager for Dining Services.
"They are very, very verbal, which is great because it gives us the opportunity to respond," she added.
Yet, some students feel profit matters more than student dining preferences to Dining Services.
"It's like being in an abusive relationship," Gredysa said, noting that the convenience of using a PennCard often forces many students to use Dining Services as opposed to other food establishments around campus.
Some students agreed that purchasing a meal plan is mostly about convenience, and that the selections are not optimal.
College junior Tim Ambrose said that he is "happy on the grounds that it's a guaranteed meal -- that's good to have."
"But the quality of the food just doesn't reach the level that I'd like to see," he added. "I find myself resorting to the pizza a lot, which is sad, I think, but even that I find to be undercooked."
He noted that, if financial aid did not cover some of the cost of the meal plan, he would choose to find other places on campus to eat.
"If I were paying for it completely out of my own pocket, I feel it would be much more in my own interest to not have the meal plan and get some food from the food trucks," Ambrose said.
College sophomore Meredith Albert said that, as a freshman, she was extremely dissatisfied with the dining options available to her.
"I thought it was horrible. I hated the selection of the dining hall, and it was just a waste of money," Albert said.
Although she said that she is aware of the Just4You program and thinks it is a good addition to the dining choices, "it still hasn't lured me in."
College junior Topher Brown agreed, noting that other locations around campus offer better selections and prices.
"It wasn't so much that I'm not satisfied," he said. "It's just that I thought I could do better on my own for the same money -- there are plenty of places you can get a better meal here for the same money."
