I recommend that TAMU should consider a customized dining plan option for students because students would be able to use their meals and dining dollars in a more cost-effective way.
Keywords: customized dining plan, students, administration, on-campus, off-campus, faculty.
Executive Summary.
On February 6, 2014, I had started researching the issues in regards to the current TAMU dining plan options and asked students and faculty to participate in a feasibility study for the adoption of a customized dining plan option. A customized dining option would enable students to purchase an 'x' amount of dining dollars and meals rather than the current pre-determined dining option.
Recently, TAMU students have been facing many difficulties when purchasing a meal plan because of the restrictions associated with them. First, freshmen and sophomores are required to buy a meal plan that starts at over $1200 per semester. These students experience long lines at the dining facilities and are not pleased with the quality of food they are receiving at such high costs. Second, the University implemented a new concept called meal trades for the 2013-2014 school year, in which students are to eat breakfast from opening to 11 am, lunch from 11am to 4 pm, and dinner from 4pm to 8 pm. Furthermore, students are only allowed to eat one meal each for breakfast, lunch, and dinner under the designated time slots where they are given an entrée, side, and a beverage. In addition, the meal plan that is required to purchase for these freshmen and sophomores living on campus comes with a limited amount of dining dollars, which can be used between the meal times. Due to the limited amount of dining dollars with these plans, students living on campus are likely to run out within the first couple of weeks or months of the semester. Lastly, students that live off campus can purchase dining dollars for $600, $800, and $1000 which include $600, $840, and $1100 dining dollars respectively.