Meal plans required for on-campus students

Correction: It was originally stated in the story that needed university funding determined the price of meal plans, which is incorrect. The story has been adjusted to properly indicate the negotiations with Sodexo that determine the price of meal plans.

On-campus students at Nicholls State University are required to have a meal plan, no matter how much the cost affects their tuition.

All students living on-campus, in a dorm or in an on-campus apartment must get a meal plan.

Brenda Haskins-Dial, executive director of auxiliary services, said, “Students have the choice of five meal plans with eight or nine options.”

The meal plans have a range in price from $586 to $2,173. Haskins said the higher the price, the more munch money a student will receive.

When Haskins was asked if she believed the meal plans make it financially difficult for students, she said, “Yes. The reason I say that is because the majority of our students who go to Nicholls are first-generation students. First-generation students tend to have middle-class parents who both work to try and support them through college.”

As an independent food contractor, Sodexo proposes meal plan prices to the university, who then negotiates that price back with Sodexo.

Megan Henshaw, a psychology junior from Covington, said having a meal plan is financially hard for her because she knows she would spend more on food without it.

Haskins said freshmen have to get a meal plan even in an apartment because the faculty knows they are so busy and it takes a while to get into the swing of things.

“I wish I did not have to get a meal plan because the minimum meal plan I get while living in a dorm is more than I could eat,” said Connor Cheramie, a freshman secondary education freshman from Lockport.

Haskins said juniors and seniors living in the apartments are allowed to get just a declining balance apartments. She said they usually have their schedule down and know what they have to do. Some are ready to graduate.