Students living on campus could be footing the bill for a mandatory meal plan as soon as fall 2006.
Specifics are not final, but ASU officials are asking the Arizona Board of Regents on Friday to grant concept approval of a proposal that would require all students living in dorms to purchase meal plans that range from $1,900 to $3,500.
ASU Facilities and Contract Manager Mike Matthies said concept approval is needed to begin renovations on campus that would be necessary to require a meal plan, but the proposal is subject to change.
"ASU is evolving as an institution, and I think this is a great way to create and enhance academic experience," he said.
Brithza Hernandez, a justice studies freshman who lives in Palo Verde West, opted not to buy a meal plan. Had she been forced to buy one, she said she would have lived off campus.
"I could buy a car with $2,000 and drive myself to school," Hernandez said. "They should leave it up to students, it's their decision.
"Putting up $2,000 may be too much for some students."
Sophie O'Keefe-Zelman, Undergraduate Student Government president, and Julie Johnson, USG vice president, support the concept approval along with the Residence Hall Association, a group that lobbies for students, provided certain conditions are met.
"We would like guaranteed the consideration of an on-campus grocery store, additional and improved dining facilities, as well as a less expensive minimum plan," O'Keefe-Zelman and Johnson said in a statement. "In addition, we want assurance that profit from meal plan sales continue to be put back into the Residential Life Living Learning Communities and will not be used for any other purpose."
The concept proposal lists the lowest priced plan as $1,900 that includes either five meals a week and 500 flex dollars, which could be similar to Maroon and Gold Dollars or money that can be spent as the student wishes on campus, or simply 1,900 flex dollars.
But a footnote warns the $1,900 plan is not designed for freshmen but upperclassmen, faculty and staff. Instead, the lowest priced option for freshmen is set at $2,200, which would include seven meals a week and 350 flex dollars.
"It just seems that it's too expensive for a minimum, and a minimum is really the most important number," O'Keefe-Zelman said.
The concept plan offers an appeal process, which would let certain students opt out of the plan, but O'Keefe-Zelman said she wants the process to be simple and concise for students who have special needs.
Matthies said meal plans might not be appropriate for every student.
"We realize we're going to have to address students' needs on different financial levels," he said.
Another condition of her support, O'Keefe-Zelman said, is the assured involvement of students and the formation of a student committee that would help to design the final plan.
"Anything that's going to bring a huge amount of additional cost to students is something that cannot be taken lightly, and the student voice needs to weigh in on it," she said. "We are extremely disappointed we've only had a week and a half to share the meal plan with students; it's tough to do that especially the first week of classes."
ASU President Michael Crow said he was looking into developing the meal plan during the September 2004 regents' meeting, in which a mandatory meal plan was approved for NAU students. But ASU's concept meal plan was not made available to students and student leaders until the end of the fall semester, O'Keefe-Zelman said.
Alex Pasco, RHA associate director of Campus Affairs, said he also felt students were given little time to react and that a forum held Tuesday was the only notification students would receive before the final vote. Pasco said the forum had a low turnout of about 15 students.
"I definitely think it was a hindrance because we weren't able to do a forum until the week of the proposal, and that creates a problem with getting the word out to students on campus ... certainly more time would have helped," he said.
Pasco said while the RHA supports the concept approval, it remains to be seen whether RHA would support the final plans.
"If the desires of our residents are not met, RHA will, of course, do not have to and will not support the meal plan," he said.
NAU Student Regent Wesley McCalley said the plan installed there earlier this year has been a success.
"I think it's been a great program and a great step that NAU has taken to provide better service for the students," he said.
ASU officials said in the proposal that the plan would help to create a sense of community among ASU students. McCalley said he agrees.
"It gives students a venue and an outlet to meet each other. I think that's the biggest success NAU has had," he said.
McCalley said the meal plan has also created a dependable source of revenue for NAU and believes it would likely do the same for ASU.
Philosophy freshman and Palo Verde East resident Kiel Rotarius, said students can decide for themselves what they want to eat and whether they want a meal plan.
"It seems inconvenient. You shouldn't have to eat somewhere just because you go to college," he said. "I thought the point of college was to get out on your own. If they make you get a meal plan, it's like going back to high school."
Reach the reporter at rkost@asu.edu.
ONLINE EDITOR'S NOTE: This headline and summary of this story were modified Jan. 26 to reflect the likelihood that the meal plans, if approved, would not be restricted only to freshmen.
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