At the end of last semester, while some students were frantically studying for finals and others were busy not caring, I and many other freshmen had a second challenge to overcome: using the remainder of the mandated “Freshman Year Experience” meal plans for the semester. Like a theater major in a thermodynamics course, I failed miserably.

In fact, I still had a veritable mountain of meal plans that rolled over on top of the meal plans that await me this semester. While I question Aramark’s claim that requiring freshmen to participate in this “opportunity” gives students “numerous educational, social and dietary benefits” as well as “the flexibility, convenience and affordability that is ideal for any new student,” these broad assertions don’t really address the issue of size. My first question is simply this: is making the minimum plan a 160-meal block that must be used by the end of spring a reasonable decision?

If the large number of students who are unable to even come close to actually finishing their meal plans by the end of the year are any indicator, then the answer is a clear and resounding no.

Let’s assume that all the benefits of forcing the entire student population to eat at a single private corporation’s establishment, which has had absolutely no competition since the food court was excluded from the meal plan four years ago, are true. Would reducing the number of meals to a level at which most students actually use all of them negate those benefits? The answer is still a resounding no.

Granted, Aramark Dining’s reasoning that requiring students to eat two meals a day at their establishments does seem sound. While I have my days where I only eat a single meal, it would be fair to say that on most occasions, the vast majority of the student body eats at least two meals a day.

So why do people close out the year with many meal plans left unused? Well, at least in my experience, there have been several reasons. For one, some people, myself included, do not like large gaps in between classes and prefer to stack them next to each other. Sitting down for a meal, whether it is in the actual dining hall or somewhere else with a to-go box, during these days is next to impossible.

For others, the kitchens provided in the dorms offer a chance for a person to buy their own food and cook their own meals in a much cheaper and more convenient way. The prospect of simply being able to wake up right before a class and eat a quick meal is indeed appealing.

College is also the time to have a social life and as our country’s obesity rate likes to remind us, one of our most prized social traditions is eating together. Eating at a dining hall should be a great way to have both, if all of your friends happen to be freshmen or on a meal plan and if you like eating at the same place all year. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and as such, many people elect to do the unspeakable and *gasp* eat somewhere else.

However, regardless of the causes, the simple fact is that a large portion of the freshman class finds itself unable to eat the minimum meal plan package. The next question: why would the freshman class be forced to buy such a large number of meal plans? The answer is simple: money. The 5,500 member freshman class functions as a major cash cow and making each new student pay over $1,200 a semester for the meal plan obviously yields a massive mountain of cash.

From this conclusion, several more questions arise. Is it ethical to consciously forbid students to select a meal plan that better fits their schedule and eating habits? Why is getting a larger meal plan no problem but downgrading is? Why is a large portion of the freshman class forced to surrender thousands of dollars in meal plans at the end of each academic year because they didn’t exclusively use a specific service on campus?

Unfortunately, I don’t think I will get an answer to these questions. The meal plan system has come to be viewed as something of an uncomfortable necessity. Like finals, you just do your time and endure. Unlike finals, however, there isn’t much of a reason for its excessive size.

So I pose my final question to the University: In regard to the “Freshman Year Experience” meal plan package, are your decisions based more upon the needs of incoming students or on the money that is earned at their expense?

John Brinkerhoff is a freshman majoring in political science and communication studies.