Many college students are on a tight budget, and pride themselves in finding deals on whatever they buy and hitting up as many free food events as they possibly can. Such habits allow students to avoid starvation for a cheaper cost per day than their meal plan daily allowance. Thus, a balance of unused “dining dollars” is begins to grow. Now, campus meal plans are great, but there is a catch. When the balance of a exceeds a certain cap, the excess money is “forfeited.” Why, when it could be transferred to the student’s signature card account?
Students need to spend meal plan money on food, naturally, because that is what the money is designated for. Everyone needs to eat, but there are many other small items that students need to worry about paying for, including laundry, printing things on campus, and small bookstore purchases. The BYU Signature Card account is commonly used for these types of transactions. If excess meal plan money was automatically transferred to the cardholder’s Signature Card account, the money would all circulate back to BYU, and no one loses. Students would not be penalized for their frugal ways, nor would they starve themselves just to buy apparel or textbooks at the bookstore; the latter because it would be preposterous to refrain from eating for ten days for a balance of more than $100 to build up.
This service would be so convenient and students wouldn’t have to worry about stuffing their faces or treating all of their friends to lunch when they their balance approaches $100.00 Campus would just be a happier place.
In paragraph two, you said that students would not have to starve themselves to buy apparel or textbooks. But in the first paragraph you said that students are able to find enough free food that they won't need to buy food, therefore their meal plan money "goes to waste."
ReplyDeleteode to the meal plan...haha I agree that it is horrible to be required to have one of these meal plans, especially when the cap for money seems to be quite low, but here is where I think it helps... The likelihood of incoming freshman to balance their own money when having to buy groceries or what not is not so great. Students, especially freshman have the tendency to be impulse buyers, many of which do not even look at price tags or what they could get for cheaper...So in the long run I think it actually helps a majority of them stay away from actual credit cards and bouncing checks when they were in such a hurry. I might have had a bigger issue with my meal plan when I was a freshman if it didn't apply to almost every food place on campus...all you can do for now is feed your friends with all of that extra money:)
ReplyDeleteI feel this same way. It's unnecessary to have to worry about eating as much as you can before you hit that 100$ cap. This could potentially lead to unhealthy eating habits as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mindy, while hopefully the majority of freshman are responsible enough to budget out money each week for food, not all are. So it's just a safety catch kind of. Lame as it is to be forced into it, it does help. Maybe just having it necessary for the first semester? i dont know. and think of it this way, use the extra for dates...
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that your intended audiance the administration, but it also seems like your trying to rally support from fellow dining plus meal plan holders. It is a little unclean on who your audiance is. Your claim is acceptable right off the bat, everyone wants to keep their own money. Maybe a topic about the rules of the meal plans? Also, I am pretty sure that many people have gripped about losing their money when they have too much, the administration must have a reason for not allowing this reason. Maybe you can find it and some how discount it. It will really help the strength of your editorial.
ReplyDeleteIn defense of my fellow freshman, I think that there are many of us who are wise with our money and know how to do things. Given, there will always be a nutcase. I have the cheapest meal plan and I still find myself almost losing money. The solution I have found is to shop at the creamery! You can buy normal groceries for your dorm with your meal plan. I think that is great! So rather than spending pocket money on groceries, I use my meal plan. I think it works out just fine.
ReplyDeleteI really think that if it is our money on the card it shouldn't just disapear when it gets to a specific amount. I got close to that amount even in the first few weeks. I didn't realize that my card had money on it the three days that I lived here that first week, and then for the next week I had brought stuff with me when I came that sustained me. Then the this week of school I find out that I have quite a bit of money on my card that I need to use before it just goes away on its own.
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ReplyDeleteI messed up on my comment sorry! Well want I wanted to say is that I agree with Emily, I usually buy all my basic needs with the left over money that I get. You can stack up on cleaning supplies, personal needs, or food.
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