Starting this school year, the University of Hartford has revised the meal plan to suit resident students and commuter/graduate students. I believe that this does not correctly portray an average student’s meal plan at any university, let alone UHart’s. For instance, the residents have the options of 7-Day All Access, Premium 7-Day All Access, and Weekly 10 or Weekly 14 each costing $2,974, $3,374, $2,493, and $3,104 respectively.
Both All Access options provide unlimited options for on-campus food services such as The Commons, but that is not entirely true as the food options are not 24-hour and also a student is not likely to get food on campus more than 2-3 times a day, so it would be better to do the Weekly 10 or Weekly 14 options.
On top of that, it would be the distribution of Dining Dollars in which Premium and Regular All Access have $300 and $100, which go by quickly over a semester, unlike the Weekly option, which are given $600 and $700 for the 10 and 14 options. The distribution feels uneven as the Weekly options are given more than the All Access options, so it feels more advantageous to use the Weekly options. Not to mention that the Weekly 10 is only available for those students living in Park River Apartments or the Village Quad Apartments as they contain a built-in kitchen.
Meal equivalencies are included only in the Premium version or the Weekly 14, with it being five equivalencies, including Starbucks for the Premium and fourteen for the Weekly, both per meal period. This also seems more advantageous for the Weekly 14 option, as it gives more equivalencies for a cheaper meal plan than the Premium option.
Overall, with these comparisons, it appears that the Weekly 14 and 10 seem to be the better options overall in their content, price, and overall compatibility with the mindset of the student resident.
