Dorm Life Arguments

Proposal Argument

Dorm life. Most of us will go through college with the life changing experience of living in the dorms. Although it's mandatory for freshmen to live in the dorm, the social life of it is not too bad. The one major problem most face though is the meal plan. Meal plans are designed to allow students the freedom to eat anywhere on campus and not worry about having cash. There are many options to choose from on campus and the meal plan covers all of our restaurants. Meal plans are based on a weekly cycle and will reset each Sunday at midnight. "Meals" may be used at Couch Restaurants, which is an all-you-care-to-eat facility. When Couch Restaurants are closed you may use a meal for meal exchange at any of our other dining
locations. Meal exchange allows you to use one of your meals to spend up to $6.00 towards a meal at participating locations (OU Housing and Food). That just sounds like it would be a hassle right? I mean it did take my roommates and I about 2 weeks to understand the whole system!
We are forced to live in the dorms and have a meal plan yet we're not given a fair deal.
One example is meal exchange hours are from 2:30-4:30 and after 8:00, which is when the cafeteria closes. The girls on my floor and I briefly spoke on our disapproval of the meal exchange hours and came to a common agreement. Whenever we wait to use our meal exchanges between 2:30 and 4:30, we almost always eat a a later dinner since our previous meal was later than what we were used to eating. By the time we get hungry again, which IS after 8:00 (the closing of the cafeteria), our choices are strictly limited to Burger King and the Cate Center. Both of which, aren't the healthiest options. As told during freshman orientation, the cafeteria was designed to provide healthy eating options for those who use the meal plans. So if our "healthy" cafeteria closes earlier than when want to eat dinner, what's it's purpose? Meal exchange hours at OU are designed to be used when the cafeteria is not open so that students will go to the cafeteria for their main meals (because most people don't eat their main course during those meal exchange hours). Another problem with the meal plan is that meal exchange is equivalent to $6.00. If you spend below that then you loose the leftover points. But when going to the cafeteria the meal exchange value is equivalent to $8.50. So if you were to run out of meal exchanges and went to the cafeteria you would have to use $8.50 worth of meal points using more
points then you would have had you a meal exchange.
I, along with many other students who rely on a meal plan, such as the girls who live with me in Couch 11 East, understand that the university must provide options and yes, they probably thought what they were doing was best, but to us, who rely on these meal plans don't find it appeasing. As said above, the meal exchange policy is one I'd like to see re-vamped. The university should make meal exchanges available at all times. We are forced to live in the dorms and live off a meal plan yet we are being restricted as to how we use them. This would enable us to use fewer points during the week which also means we won't run out of points before the semester even ends. Just in my English class, people commented on how ridiculous it was that our meal exchanges are worth $6.00 and when we run out and go to the cafeteria we have to use $8.50 worth of meal points. How is that even fair? We have to spend more than we normally would yet if we are ever to have extra points within a meal exchange it's not returned to us? Sounds a little sketch to me. The university should keep the cafeteria price at $6.00 rather than jack up the price an extra $2.50. If we are being forced with meal exchanges at least let them be reasonable. The best solution that would almost guarantee satisfaction among all students would be doing away with meal exchanges and strictly letting us use points. Doing away with meal exchanges would give us a lot more points and make it a lot easier to eat at convenience.
Another issue that is highly frustrating is the food service hours.
Everything in the Union, which I personally find to be the best choices for food along with the ladies in Couch 11 East, closes at 7:00pm. If I don't go earlier in the day for my meal, like I said above, then my options become limited to Cate Center, Burger King, or Couch Express. The university should extend the hours of the cafeteria and places in the union till at least 9:00 pm. All the restaurants available in the Union belong to franchises and their normal locations off campus don't close till 10:00pm yet on campus, "dinner" closes at 7:00pm. If the university does not want to keep all these restaurants in operation that "late" then they should offer us other options such as allowing us to use points around campus like the places on campus corner. Moe's, Jimmy Johns, and Pita Pit ALL stay open till either 3:00 or 4:00am! That would give students the option of eating whenever they want, which is basically the point. We have so many restrictions as to what we can do or how long we can be in someone's room, yet we're still not allowed to decide when we want to eat? Maybe I am being a little stubborn when I say we can't choose where we eat, but basically that is what they are doing. The places that are left open later are not something I would normally eat at if I lived at home. I am limited to my selection, therefore I basically being told where I can eat. Who knows, maybe next year the university will
start telling us when we're allowed to and to not park our cars…
With more businesses open later, with more businesses available for us to choose from, I can honestly say that the students who use the meal plans will be much happier. It will give us more "power" to choose what and when we want to eat. Something as simple as eating shouldn't be such an issue and it's sad that it happens to be one of concern. If places on campus corner were available for use with meal points then the university wouldn't have to worry about whether we, as students, are satisfied with the choice selection.