With the remaining weeks of the school year dwindling, students at DePaul University are scrambling to the Student Center cafeteria, urgently swiping their student ID cards, hoping to spend their remaining meal plan balance. But the last- minute spending, high prices and lackluster food options leave students eager for an alternative next year.

DePaul’s cafeteria, an open venue where you witness burgers flipped on the grill and noodles frying in a wok, allows students to visually explore different food options for their breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unfortunately for DePaul freshmen who live in campus dormitories, eating at the cafeteria isn’t just an option. Every year, DePaul freshmen buy a meal plan that they can use to buy any food or beverage on campus. But the selection, quality, and more importantly, the price of the food have most freshmen in an uproar.

Students living on-campus are required to purchase one of four meal plans upon registering their freshmen year. Meal plans start at $1,030 a quarter, with $1,517 being the most expensive plan. The problem most freshmen students have with the obligatory fee is that they have to pay for overpriced food and beverage items, when half of the time, it is food that they’re not interested in eating. Moreover, if the pre-deposited money isn’t spent by quarter’s end, the funds will be an automatic forfeiture and not be carried over to next term.

“Overall the food is decent, but the prices are way too high,” said freshman Louis Calderon, who only eats at the cafeteria sporadically, whenever he is in the mood for a Panini.

Some students, like freshmen Cassie Shaw and Angela Moses, feel that swiping their Demon Express and using all the funds isn’t the problem. The problem lies within not having enough money to spend throughout the quarter, due to DePaul’s high food prices.

“Most students that do eat here are freshmen, but the prices are so outrageously high, if it wasn’t for me having to use my meal plan, I would never choose to eat here,” Shaw said.
But when asked if the two freshmen girls would convert to the meal plan as sophomores, both replied simultaneously with an emphatic “No!”

So as students semi-enjoy their somewhat good, often overpriced meals, alternative methods to filling their hunger void await them. Dominick’s grocery on Fullerton and Sheffield (although not the most praised supermarket in the area) offers a lot of the same food as DePaul, but at a cheaper price. By no means is Dominick’s food cheap, but for the sake of comparison, it is in fact a better alternative. Just a block away from the Student Center, Dominick’s gives those not financially committed to the freshman meal plan a great substitute.

For instance, a slice of pepperoni pizza, (which is one of the five major food groups for a college student) at the cafeteria will run you $3.45. While at Dominick’s, a fairly identical slice will only cost you $1.99. Also, the ever popular breaded chicken sandwich will cost you more than $3 more at DePaul’s cafeteria than at Dominick’s.

After almost a full year under DePaul’s meal plan, most freshmen felt reluctant, if not downright certain, they wouldn’t continue with the plan during the rest of their DePaul career. Bonnie Dunkel, a freshman standing in line for the salad bar felt frustrated with the price she was paying to eat lunch.

“The prices are way too high, I am transferring schools at the end of the quarter, but if I stayed here next year, I definitely wouldn’t continue my meal plan,” said Dunkel. “In fact, most students I know are frustrated and are not doing the meal plan next year.”

Other freshmen like Kayla English admit the food prices at the cafeteria are high, but find it more convenient to purchase the meal plan and eat at school.

“It’s hard for me to eat anywhere else, considering we aren’t allowed to have any cooking appliances in our dorm rooms,” said English. “I’m not too concerned with the high prices though, the [meal plan] is an easy way for my parent to buy all my food.”

Spending money on everyday snacks and necessities at DePaul’s convenience store ‘etc…’ can also be inconvenient on your wallet. Perplexingly, items like a large bag of Doritos and a quart of milk would cost more than $7 at DePaul. A bag of Doritos and a gallon of milk at Dominick’s would cost less than $6.

Although the price difference isn’t staggering at first sight, the savings perpetuated over the course of a four-year college career could be astronomical.