With each swipe of a UNK ID card, students can transfer one of their meals via a purchased meal plan. What doesn’t go through their minds, however, is what kind of monetary loss they are taking once that card goes through the system.
For any UNK student living on campus, it is necessary to purchase a meal plan through the university’s food service provider, Chartwells, in order to eat. What most students don’t realize, however, is the actual cost per meal they are paying for through Chartwells.
There have been many complaints about the service Chartwells provides, but perhaps the biggest complaint that either goes unnoticed by students or students just don’t know about, is the transfer rate. On the UNK campus, Chartwells allows students to use up to $4.50 per meal for one transfer. While most students love being able to purchase a coffee at Starbucks on the way to class, a nachos grande from Taco Bell, or a candy bar from Loper Express, they don’t think twice about what the actual value of their meal is, due to the convenience of the food locations.
For some, this equals a great deal, so not much of a fuss is made about the transfer rate between what they are getting and what they really should be getting for their money. According to UNK Student Noise, a Web site devoted to voicing the student’s opinion, Chartwells is actually running away with the on-campus money at UNK.
Take a Chartwells’ 10-meal plan, which will cost $1,433 each semester. Students are actually spending $8.43 per meal, a mere $3.93 more than what they are getting in an actual transfer value. That figure is also if the student were to eat all of their meals. Any meal left untouched will make the actual value per meal go up.
At $8.43, that is allowing for a 87% overhead for Chartwells to up the prices. The numbers are absolutely appalling when calculating the true percentage. Now it is understandable that Chartwells would raise costs to allow for some money to be made, but a 87% increase is a little too extreme. With a modest 25% overhead, the cost per meal would be $5.63, that’s a difference of $2.80 per meal. Even with a 50% overhead, the meal plan would be $6.75 for a transfer for a grand total of $1,215 for the semester, instead of the aforementioned $1,433.
And this is just with the 10-meal plan, which isn’t even the worst plan. The worst plan in terms of numbers is the Block Plan which has you paying $11.04 per meal. That turns out to be a 145% overhead from the $4.50 that the students get per meal. Over a semester, a student should be paying $707 for this Block Plan, but instead will pay $1,590.
The statistics don’t lie. Chartwells is making a killing off their dining service but continue to have a stranglehold over the campus with their meal plans. There is no justification for such grossly overpriced plans, even if these plans cover the cost during the hours of operation.
With next year being the contract year for Chartwells, this is the opportunity for students to make their voices heard. The fact of the matter is, is that Chartwells needs to either increase their transfer value or lower the price of their meal plans. It is understandable that Chartwells, as a business, wants to turn a profit, but with the amount of overhead being collected, it is unreasonable the prices they have meal plans at now. It would be nice to see a consistent overhead percentage for each plan.
Since students are forced to purchase a meal plan if they want to live on campus, it is time for them to stand up and fight for their money during these tough economic times. Chartwells, as the lone food provider on this campus, has to be held accountable for their practices at UNK. While most students don’t realize the facts behind these prices, it is only a matter of time before the student body as a whole will rise up against Chartwells to bring forth the change that is needed on this campus.
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