UNC students have until Friday to alter their meal plans

Students who bought meal plans bigger than their appetites have the opportunity to change or cancel them — until Friday’s deadline.

In the past, students have made the mistake of buying meal plans and then leaving meals unused at the end of the semester, said Scott Myers, director of food and vending services.

Myers said about 6,000 meals are purchased by meal plan users each semester, but about 25 percent of the meals purchased go unused.

Freshman Erin Padgett said she didn’t have a problem with her meal plan.

“I used them all,” she said.

But not all students planned so well.

Junior Ebony Hagans said when she was a freshman, she bought an unlimited plan that left her with a large number of meals at the end of her first semester.

“I wish they could have rolled over,” she said. “I had to pay for a whole new meal plan every semester, and they’re expensive.”

Sophomore Elizabeth Adams said she has never used her allotted seven meals per week but wishes they didn’t go to waste.

“They should be stored somewhere,” she said. “The meals you don’t use, you should get points for something towards something like free meals.”

But Myers said rollover meal credit is not a possibility.

The meal plan is a contract that students agree to for a certain price, he said, adding that it cannot be changed.

Half of the profits from meal plan purchases go toward buying the food. The rest is put toward facility upkeep and workers’ salaries. When needed, they also allow for new facilities to be built.

Myers said profits will build a Wendy’s in the Student Union.

Despite the hassle of inflexible meal plans, students across campus have come up with their own ways to put their leftover meals to use.

Sophomore Laura Grier said she used her extra meals to swipe in her roommate who did not have a meal plan.

There is even a Facebook group called Phree Phood that allows students to offer their extra meals to one another.

Myers said that as students go through college, they gain a better understanding of how many meals they will realistically need, and instead purchase smaller plans to avoid waste.

Some students, though, said they chose not to purchase plans, or cancel their current ones, as a way to stay away from biting off more than they can chew.

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