NU’s unlimited dining hall option can be burdensome

University of Nebraska students with meal plans lose an average of $1,594 per year by skipping meals. That's $50.72 down the drain each week. The average student pushes the cost per meal from $5.20 to $9.71 per meal — almost twice the price.

In an analysis of NCard scans at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's dining halls, the Daily Nebraskan found that for a period of two weeks in September, students with a seven-day meal plan ate, on average, 11.25 meals each week. That's a bit more than half as many meals as they could eat each week, not to mention the unlimited entry option.

Students seem to be aware that they skip meals, but they are often surprised to discover how much they're missing.

"I haven't really thought about it," said Daniel Reynoso, a senior psychology major whose seven-day meal plan is paid for by a scholarship. "It's nice to have the food made for you, but that's a lot of money ... I guess I'd want to know what the other options are."

Todd Self, a sophomore construction management major, only eats lunch at the dining halls, even though he is signed up for a five-day unlimited plan.

"I think I'm going to drop it next semester just because I don't use it that much," he said. "It'd be a lot cheaper to just go to the grocery store."

But for Christine Danitz, a freshman music education major, the seven-day unlimited plan is just fine. She said she eats almost all of her meals in the dining halls, only missing a few on weekends.

"I think I get my money's worth," she said. "I feel like I should use (the meal plan) since my mom's paying for it."

The fact that students are missing meals is not surprising, nor is it confined to unlimited dining plans, said Ron Burke, director of UNL Dining Services.

"I thought it would be slightly more (meals eaten)," he said. "But we knew there would be absenteeism."

In fact, meal plans are priced slightly lower based on the expectation that students won't eat 19 meals each and every week, he said.

"At the end of the year, Housing is not a profit center," Burke said. "It's not like I've got a big wad of cash at the end of the year."

The unlimited dining plan is fairly new to the university. In the past, students would be able to choose between eating 10, 15 or 19 meals per week. There was still absenteeism with those options, Burke said, although he said they knew when switching over that missed meals could become more of a problem.

But the unlimited plans do offer positives. Students do not have to worry about what time they eat, and they are free to stop by the dining halls for a quick snack without worrying about using up a meal, he said.

"It (unlimited dining) kind of took the limitation of eating in a meal period away," he said. "We liked that it was more flexible."

At Kansas State University, students can choose between 20, 15 or 10 meals per week, and each meal can be used for either all-you-can-eat or takeout, said Mary Molt, assistant director of housing and dining services at KSU. KSU also offers a five-meal option for off-campus students and students living in on-campus apartments.