Students think the proposed Lister meal plan “charges more for less flexibility,” survey says

The Students’ Union wasn’t surprised to learn that nine out of 10 Listerites are opposed to Lister’s proposed meal plan for 2017-18.

Earlier this year, Dining Services announced it wanted to  implement a mandatory $4,650 all-you-can-eat meal plan in 2017-18, and initiated consultations to gauge students’ thoughts on the plan, but online results aren’t being released to students or the SU due to confidentiality reasons.

The plan only allows students to use their meal plan in Lister — and if students want to use the meal plan on campus, they will have to add a separate $300 to the plan or take a boxed lunch of cafeteria food. Because the proposed plan is one-charge for unlimited buffet access, students won’t have remaining cash to transfer into the next year.

The current Lister meal plan lets students choose between paying $3,783 or $4,554, and allows unused meal plan money to be conserved into the next year. Students can also use their meal plans at all Aramark vendor locations on campus.

SU launched its own ongoing consultation on October 26 and received 480 responses that day. By October 28, 509 respondents (Lister has 1,600 residents) said that:

• 92 per cent said they would rather keep the current plan;
• 68 per cent of students said they spend less than half of their meal plan in the Lister cafeteria under the current plan;
• 45 per cent said they would never take a boxed lunch from Lister to class, and 34 per cent said they weren’t likely;
• 83 per cent said they didn’t think the $300 of “flex dollars” for spending elsewhere on campus shouldn’t be mandatory;
• 84 per cent were aware the meal plan was changing

The SU shared its survey results with Dining Services. The Gateway was in correspondence with the university’s Facilities and Operations since Wednesday, but was not connected with a Dining Services representative to comment on the SU’s survey in time for reading week.

Dining Services has posted information online for students and is running its own online consultation, but feedback isn’t being shared with the SU or the public due to limitations of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, according to Francesca Ghossein, SU Vice-President (Student Life).

Ghossein said many comments from the SU’s survey said the plan had a lack of flexibility. She also said students commented that they were being “charged more for less flexibility,” and didn’t want to have to pay $300 of “flex dollars” on top of the $4,650 plan to spend outside of Lister’s cafeteria.

“Based on student opinion, this meal plan does not respond to student needs,” Ghossein said. “I think we need to listen to student needs, and that the meal plan should be made to accommodate their lifestyles.”

Dining Services has said the food quality would go up with the new plan, but students in the survey’s comments said they didn’t trust that promise, Ghossein added. Other students said they wouldn’t get value out of the new plan simply because they don’t eat at the Lister cafeteria very much.

“It’s highly impractical to ask students to go back to Lister for lunch or take boxed meals in the morning,” Ghossein said. “And if they had a long day on campus they’d have to take a box for lunch and a box for dinner.”

An identical Lister meal plan was put forward last year, but was stopped in the approval process after the SU surveyed students for feedback. Last year, Residence Services brought forward an identical meal plan proposal that was stopped when an SU-run survey found most students weren’t in favour, Ghossein said.

“Students don’t feel like they were listened to after our consultation last year,” Ghossein said. “And they don’t have faith that they’re going to be listened to because the plan was brought back exactly the way that it was last year.”