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Meal plans are an essential part of many students’ college experiences. The Daily Orange looked at meal plan prices at various colleges around the country and compared the costs to Syracuse University’s block meal plan system, which was introduced at the beginning of the 2021 semester. 

Many SU students have expressed concern and frustration about the cost of the university, including the increase in tuition for the 2021-22 academic year. After SU decided to no longer accept meal swipes at Schine Student Center, students created a petition calling on SU to allow meal swipes at Schine once again. 

SU has the most expensive unlimited meal plan and the most expensive average cost per meal in block plans between it and six other institutions: Marist College, New York University, Rutgers University, Boston University, University of Miami in Florida and University of Alabama. SU’s cost per meal and the cost of an unlimited meal plan are both almost twice as much as the University of Alabama’s. 

Note: Each calculation is per semester, and they do not factor-in “dining dollars,” if applicable. 

Maya Goosmann | Digital Design Director

Syracuse University

The cost of an unlimited meal plan at SU is $4,135. With this plan, students are able to eat at any of the five dining centers on campus as many times as they would like. Resident advisers are given this meal plan as part of their benefits. SU also recently implemented fingerprint scanning in the dining halls for students with this meal plan to evade long lines. 

Students also have the option to choose from a variety of block plans. These block plans allow students to have a certain number of meals per semester: 220, 130 and 85 meals. In the “Block 220,” students can use 220 meals per semester, and they pay a total of $3,710, making the cost per meal $16.86. The cost per meal is $19.92 for the “Block 130” meal plan and $22 for “Block 85.”

Students are also given $200 in dining dollars with each block plan, which was subtracted before calculating the cost per meal prices. Dining dollars can be used at any of the cafes on campus and at Schine and Goldstein student centers. The average cost per meal for the block plans is $19.59. 

Maya Goosmann | Digital Design Director

Marist College

Marist College, a liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, offers two unlimited meal plans, a “5-day” and “7-day,” for $2,150 and $2,950, respectively — a significantly lower amount than Syracuse. The “7-day Unlimited” plan is required for resident freshmen but also offered to all other grades. 

Marist also offers four block plans, ranging from 30 to 120 meals per semester, for sophomores and above. The cost per meal is $11.79 for 120 meals, $12.50 for 90 meals, $12.58 for 60 meals and $12.83 for 30 meals. The average cost per meal for the block plans is $12.43. 

Meal plans at Marist also include “Thrifty Cash,” which can be used at retail locations on campus for on-the-go dining. 

New York University 

New York University, a private university in New York City, does not offer students an unlimited dining option. 

Instead, they offer “Washington Square Meal Plans,” which are set up in a block system. 

The cost per meal is $9.67 for their “300 Flex” plan, $11.22 for their “225 Flex” plan, $13.22 for their “175 Flex” plan, $13.49 for the “120 Flex” plan and $13.69 for their “95 Flex” plan. The average cost per meal for the block plans is $12.26. 

NYU also has dining dollar options that students get based on their meal plan. Dining dollars can be used at every on-campus dining location to pay for items such as soft drinks, coffee and snacks. 

Rutgers University

Similar to NYU, Rutgers University-New Brunswick in New Jersey does not offer unlimited meal plans and instead offers block meal plans per semester. 

The cost per meal is $10.18 for 285 meals, $10.98 for 255 meals, $12.46 for 210 meals, $16.47 for 150 meals and $17.89 for 120 meals. The average cost per meal for the block plans is $13.60. 

They do not mention an option for dining dollars on their meal plan site.

Boston University 

Unlike previously listed colleges, Boston University has meal plans per year instead of per semester. 

By dividing its originally presented price by two, its unlimited meal plan per semester is $2,890. The cost per meal is $15.70 for 165 meals, $18.36 for 125 meals and $11.15 for 48 meals. The average cost per meal for the block plans is $15.07. 

BU has “Dining Points” that work the same way as dining dollars. They can be used at over 20 retail locations across campus. 

 

 

Wendy Wang | Asst. Photo Editor

University of Miami

The University of Miami in Florida has a similar undergraduate population to SU — UMiami has about 11,000 undergrads and Syracuse has about 14,000. 

UMiami offers its unlimited meal plan for $3,593. 

UMiami also offers block meal plans, where students pay a certain amount of money for a set number of meals that they can use as they please. The cost per meal is $14.36 for 175 meals and $15.17 for 100 meals. The average cost per meal for the block plans is $14.77. 

University of Alabama 

The University of Alabama, with an undergraduate enrollment of about 32,000 students, offers an “All-Access” unlimited meal plan for $2,117. 

If a student opts out of the unlimited meal plan, they offer “Bama Silver,” which is 125 meals; $9.60 per meal, “Bama Bronze,” which is 90 meals at $11.61 per meal and “Bama 55,” which is 55 meals at $11.65 per meal. The average cost per meal for the block plans is $10.95. 

All undergraduate students enrolled in at least nine credit hours receive $350 dining dollars.

Published on October 6, 2021 at 12:53 am

Contact Hannah: hcferrer@syr.edu