<p>If you eat 4 times a day, sure. However, how many college students eat 4 meals a day, and only eat after 7am and before 10pm? Or, even better on the weekends, after 10am and before 7pm? (Yes, those are the cafeteria hours on the weekends. They really do close at 7). </p>
<p>The food also gets stale very quickly. Fresh Food (the cafeteria next to Salley) offers a salad bar, a sandwich area, a pizza area, a pasta area, an “American” area (burgers, etc), a vegan/vegetarian area, and a “grill” area. Sounds like a few good choices, but half the stuff gets rotated seemingly all the time. It’s great if you love french fries and pizza, as those are extremely common (and cheap for them to make) options. However, variety is not the name of the game. </p>
<p>There’s only so many times you can eat the same thing before it gets old. </p>
<p>Plus, the cost of just eating once or twice a day without the meal plans is only $8-11 per meal, whereas the meal plans run $16-20/day. If you’re getting a smaller meal plan, just paying per meal is cheaper. Not to mention that then, you aren’t locked into having a meal plan for both fall and spring.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, meal plans are possibly the second best scam going on in colleges, right behind textbooks.</p>