Starting this fall semester, food in WashU’s three main dining halls has been more expensive than in previous years. Prices at the Bear’s Den (BD), Danforth University Center (DUC), and Village are so high that first-years cannot afford two average meals a day no matter what plan they are on. 

Towards the end of every semester, Washington University students continually face a meal point epidemic. Some students have an excess of meal points and need to somehow dispose of them before the semester ends. Others, like yours truly, are low on meal point funds.

Swipe Out Hunger—a new group to Washington University, but a national organization—works to promote hunger awareness on college campuses and helps students donate unused meal points to provide food for those in need.

Washington University students love their soda, but there are many different ways to get the exact same thing. First, let us clarify the value exchange between meal points and pure cash. The residential meal plan options (gold, silver and bronze) have the same exchange rate for the first 2,534 meal points ($3,802). This makes up the bronze plan.

Dining Services recently announced to Student Union its 10-year plan for improving dining services. Given that the undergraduate population is expected to expand significantly within the next decade, the plan focused on changes to existing dining services, particularly during lunchtime on the Danforth campus. But as Wash. U.

While organizations across campus are busy trying to attract students to their events with free food, freshman Stan Rosenthal launched a Web site called nomealpoints.com to facilitate an exchange of this information. Nomealpoints.com launched on Jan. 19, the first day of spring semester, and lists all of the free food events that are happening on campus each day.

Bon Appétit may be acclaimed as one of the nation’s most highly-ranked campus food companies, but Wash. U. students know that the meal plan system certainly has its flaws.

When freshmen are required to purchase meal plans from Dining Services at Wash. U., the choices seem meager and insufficient. However, at the end of the school year, many freshmen find themselves frantically trying to raid Bear Mart or sell large chunks of points in an effort to get rid of extra meal points.

The dining hall’s popularity may soon see a decline because, as of this past summer, Bear’s Den has implemented price increases on its food in an attempt to account for a recent surge in national food costs.