The Inefficiency of the College Meal Plan

The typical college student eats fast food because he or she is always rushing to study.

For many college students, dining halls and other dining facilities are essential because they provide daily nutrition. Campus dining feeds millions of students, and may even be the only meals that some students can get. College students spend thousands on meal plans every year, so when it comes to dining it is important that it is clean, sustainable and most importantly convenient. On campus dining services have failed at working around college student’s schedules. Most dining facilities close around the time of 9:30 p.m. or even earlier forcing students to seek alternative options that cause them to empty their pockets, and go off campus when unnecessary. College campuses should extend dining hours and require at least one dining hall to

Perhaps the biggest factor that causes students to gain weight is the adjustment from eating at home to eating at college. A student from Chicago State University wrote in the school paper that, “Students in their first year away from home are sometimes not experienced in choosing foods or balanced meals” (French). The free-for-all campus style eating allows for unlimited choices of food and no parents to tell students what they can or cannot eat. Dietitian Ann Litt is also quoted in a Washington Post article in stating that, “the all you can eat concept in most college food services is an invitation overeat” (Linder). College dining halls are set up like fast food restaurants, and some even contain a McDonalds or a Pizza Hut. Fast food style eating really has no nutritional value, other than lots of fat and calories. In an article which examined the ways which students eat nutritional professor Christina Economos stated that more than fifty percent of students are eating too much fat, and seventy to eighty percent are getting too much saturated fat. She states that lack of fruit and vegetable consumption and the eating of mostly processed food is the main cause of weight gain among students (Linder). When students enter the dining hall they need to remind themselves that eating healthy is important.

For many previous years, Anaheim High school has had a couple lunch system changes finally settling on two lunches, both being half an hour long. With both lunches only being half an hour long, for certain, more than one thousand students being in each, imagine the lunch lines! Making line to get your lunch takes already about fifteen minutes, half of a person’s time already, which leaves little time for a student to enjoy their so called meal and free time with friends.Based on other student’s experiences dealing with school lunch, one can rightfully assume that high schoolers would much rather hold in their hunger until after school rather than have the food being provided. There is not a single day that goes by in which a high schooler does not complain about the “worst than jail” food being served to them. This proposal will go into detail about why having an hour off-campus lunch can increase healthier eating habits between the undergraduates of Anahiem High School. In this layout, you will read about the issue of why we believe off- campus lunch would be a healthier choice for Anaheim High school students, you will also encounter our plan of how we intend to carry out this idea, what exactly needs to be done, with the help of who, and so on.

The lunches served in Frederick County Schools, and Urbana High School in particular lack nutritional value and are unappetizing. When interviewing Casey Ballow (a student who buys lunch everyday) about whether the school lunches are nutrional she said “The majority of students walk out [of the lunch line] without the most nutritional part of their lunch”. FCPS has made snacks whole grain, which usually makes them less tasty. Packing a lunch is a hassle because it is both time consuming and expensive, not to mention you cannot bring any warm foods. When asked why Casey chooses to buy a lunch, despite getting “soggy chicken patties and burnt french fries” she said “Buying a lunch saves me time in morning”. There is not a wide enough selection of lunch foods for students.

Food provided at the institution’s discretion starting with dinner the night before a home game, plus an extra meal after the game;

Why do colleges make their meal plans for students very costly? Are they too expensive? Are meal plans or college food healthy? Throughout the 21st century college has become more essential to attend and get a job after graduating. As compared to back then when with just a high school degree an individual could live off a decent job. However, as college became more important, the price of college also increased including, the cost of dorms, tuition, fees, books, and most importantly meal plans. Within all of the college expenses, the price of meal plans has also increased. Food is one of the most important necessity a human being needs to survive. Furthermore, the price is not the only factor, the health and regulations of a student’s meal plan also comes into play. Colleges provide a huge variety of food, most of it being fast food. The main research question

This allows students to have a variety of different meals each day. Over the years there has been

Having bad eating habits can cause vastly eating disorders and illnesses. Students attending college that do not eat right are most likely to conceive an illness or become overweight. “An unhealthy diet is a major risk factor for becoming overweight and obese,” (McNight). Freshman 15 is most likely to get to the students that have This is something to think about when it comes to meal plans. The majority of the meal plans offered at any college are high in fats and calories. By consuming all of these foods you are more likely to having this problem.

First of all, students aren’t motivated to eat unhealthy, not-tasty food. If you observed students buying lunch in the cafeteria, you don’t often see them buying these kinds, but not limited to, foodstuffs: burritos (which are just beans wrapped in tortillas), “burgers” (meat slapped on two

Thousands of college students eat more than one meal in the dining hall each day. In most colleges, such as UC Berkeley and UC Riverside, the dining halls are buffet

Since college is such a busy time, most students do not have the time to sit down and cook a healthy meal. Students may eat at dining halls or fast food restaurants. Food at these places may not be the healthiest food available, but if calorie labels are present, students may pick and choose

The Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest translates well to the college world. While living on my own, many of my long-dormant, carnivorous instincts kicked in. A trip to the local superstore meant that my pantry was well stocked, but replenishing it was another matter. I soon found myself planted firmly in a regimen of boxed noodles, frozen pizza, and TV dinners. While not the healthiest of diets, they did allow me enough carbohydrates to make it through twelve hours of classes.

Food -- it is a necessity. There is not one person who does not think about it on a daily basis. For a college student, the quality of food available is not always to the highest of standards. Many students can not afford to buy expensive food or eat out on a regular basis. Many times their only option left is to eat from their school’s dining halls.

College age students face different problems than the teens in high school. When students live in dormitories at a university or college, they eat on a meal plan. They usually do not have money of their own to spend on food at restaurants so the cafeteria regulates what food they eat. The cafeterias serve a lot of foods such as hamburgers or other meats with sauces and a lot of potatoes. These foods are very high in starch and cause of weight gain.