May 1, 2016

President Miller
Department of English
Hamline University
1536 Hewitt Ave
St. Paul, Minnesota 55104
Subject: Feasibility Study
Dear President Miller,
On February 21, 2016, I requested permission from you to conduct research on the feasibility of
not making meal plans mandatory for on campus living students. Since then, you have approved
my request and I have performed the required research for this assignment. Enclosed, you will
find the results of my study for your review.
I pursued this particular project because I have first-hand experience with this topic, being that I
have lived on Hamlines campus for two years now. Money contributes a great amount when
going to college and being able to save money is beneficial to students.
The task at hand was to be able to determine if it were feasible to not make meals mandatory for
on campus living students. In order for me to determine this question, I distributed a 10 question
survey asking people questions about this specific title. After I handed out the survey I then
analyzed the results and formed it into data to get a better understanding on what peoples
opinions were. I also conducted research on this through Hamlines database Summon and also
through other peer-reviewed articles that I found online.
From my thorough research I have concluded that this would not be feasible. Based on the data
and research compiled, it is my recommendation that a more thorough study be conducted in
determining if Hamline could afford the financial loss of on campus students having the option
of not having a meal plan.
Thank you for granting me permission to pursue this feasibility study. From the research I
conducted I found it to be very interesting and informative, and I hope you found my research to
be as well.
Sincerely,
Emily Winters

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 1

Running head: MEAL PLANS NOT MANDATORY

Feasibility of Making Meal Plans Not Mandatory for Students Living On Campus
A Feasibility Report
Emily Winters
English 1800
Professional Writing and Rhetoric
Dr. Krista Soria
April 17, 2016

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 3

Abstract
The dining center at Hamline University is a convenient way for students attending the school to
get a meal quick without having to cook their own food; however, students living on campus do
not have a choice whether or not they want to purchase a meal plan. The study researched the
opinions of Hamline students along with the benefits and aspects that are not beneficial towards
not making it mandatory. Many Hamline students favored the idea of not making it mandatory;
however, the findings concluded that there were not many other ideas that could substitute this
action. Therefore, it has been concluded that it is not feasible to make meal plans optional for on
campus living students. Recommendations to conduct further research on this have been
included in this report.

Abstract

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 4

Introduction
Methods
Results
Alternative Options
Revenue Loss
Desire for Meal Plan
Conclusions
Recommendations
References
Contents
Abstract...........................................................................................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................4-6
Methods.......................................................................................................................................................................6-7
Results.............................................................................................................................................................................8
Alternative Options.....................................................................................................................................................8
Revenue Loss.........................................................................................................................................................8-10
Desire for Meal Plan............................................................................................................................................10-12
Conclusions...................................................................................................................................................................13
Recommendations.........................................................................................................................................................13
References.....................................................................................................................................................................14
Appendix.................................................................................................................................................................14-16

Introduction

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 5

On February 21, 2016, I received approval to conduct a study of the feasibility of not
making meal plans mandatory for on campus living students at Hamline University. The purpose
of this study was to determine if it was possible for them to not make it mandatory for students to
purchase a meal plan. This report includes my findings from this study.
Many college students do not have the time or energy to make themselves meals;
however, many students also do not have enough money to be throwing their money away for a
missed meal, leaving students with unnecessary prepaid expenses on food. I think by allowing
optional meal plans it would be beneficial for the students on this campus to save money. My
proposed research was to figure out the amount of money students will save, different
alternatives for students to cook their own food, and if it would be beneficial for Hamline as a
university. My goal of this proposed research is to find out if Hamline could provide students
with different alternatives for the dining center, discover if there is a desire for meal plans from
students, and see if Hamline would lose money. Students living on campus are forced to make a
prepaid expense to Hamline University for the food services. Personally, as a student who attends
Hamline and lives on campus, I do not use many of the meals that I have already paid for. Being
that 90% of the students that live on campus are first years, the students are forced to pay for a
very expensive meal plan. (Hamline.edu, 2016) By implementing the idea that students do not
need a meal plan if they live on campus will substantially saves the students money that live on
campus. What if they did allow students to make the decision of purchasing a meal plan or not?
Alternatives to different food options would be a key necessity in implementing this idea.
There are many different ideas out there for alternatives for food options. Some
alternatives would be, implementing cooking stations or having more fast-food options around
the campus. Both of these two alternatives would cost money for the University. By having

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 6

cooking stations such as stoves implemented into the Hamline campus it is hard to determine if
students have the cooking abilities to perform cooking tasks. Another factor that contributes into
this is if rodents would be a problem from students not necessarily cleaning up their cooking
messes.
Hamlines dining center is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The main people the
topic refers to about making meal plans optional is intended for students who live on campus.
These students are required to make a prepaid expense to Hamline for their dining services. The
price in total for a full year usage at the dining center is $4,750. (Hamline.edu, 2016) This
prepaid expense means that the students have already paid for their meals in advance and
Hamline is not required to pay the students back for the meals they do not use. The price for each
meal that a student has bought is $9.50. (Hamline.edu, 2016) Do the Hamline college students
have a desire to have a meal plan?
Time management and convenience play a tremendous role in college students. With
students working full time jobs or part-time jobs and going to school on top of that it can be
tough to find time to cook their own meal. The word nutrition is not a word that is reference or
thought about very often. A dining center is a very convenient idea for college students. The way
the Hamline dining center works is you make your prepaid expense and are able to walk into a
calorie-filled buffet. The student has unlimited amount of times that they want to grab food.
The quest for convenience is known to be a consumer preference explaining purchase behaviors
and attitudes toward food and related services. (Marquis, 2005) College students appreciate
convenience because of the limited time they have. That study conducted by Marquis indicated
that students appreciate the convenience of grabbing food already cooked from a dining center.

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 7

The following sections will demonstrate the findings of this study, the methods used, the
results of the finds, and the details regarding the conclusions and recommendations.
Research Methods
The following research allowed me to better understand the pros and cons of not making
meal plans mandatory for on campus living students. I distributed out a survey to 18 students in
Dr. Sorias 1800 Writing and Rhetoric class. The survey asked basic questions on how they felt
about the dining center and what their experience was like with it. At the end of the survey I also
asked how they would feel towards not making it mandatory. I decided which questions I wanted
to use by going off of my criteria questions and formed questions that would help attempt to
answer my questions.

I researched the cost of a meal plan for students living on the Hamline University campus
and other universities meal plan prices.

I conducted a survey on what people thought about the situation from the students in my
class and then analyzed the data.

I researched the benefits of the proposed idea.

I researched the tools Hamline would need in place of a cafeteria; for example, adequate
amount of stoves and cooking utensils.

I researched the nutrition value of dining centers.

I researched if Hamline will lose money or save money.

I researched the amount of money students would save a year.

Criteria:

Is there interest from Hamline students to not have a meal plan mandatory?

Would Hamline lose money on optional meal plans?

Are we able to keep the dining center open for people who do want it?

Is there space available for the students to do their own cooking?

Are dining centers beneficial nutrition wise?

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 8

I found most of my sources from Summon. The first resource that I found was the article
The cost and price of college and the value of higher education. I found this article by typing
in the keywords mandatory college meal plan and debt and I also had it set to scholarly
articles. This article will be beneficial for me so that I know how much the average tuition is for
many universities. The next resources I will be using is the article called The availability,
prospects, and fiscal potential of on-campus housing at rural community colleges. I found this
article by using the keywords average college revenue from dining centers, which will be
important in this project for when I need to find statistics on how much money the school is
making from dining centers. A third article I found was called Taxing and Tuition: A Legislative
Solution to Growing Endowments and the Rising Costs of a College Degree. The way I was
able to retrieve this article was by typing in the keywords Rising tuition costs. I came across
many different articles but after examining and searching articles I found this one to be most
beneficial due to the fact that it will help me with talking about the costs of tuition and other
expenses at different universities. A fourth article I managed to find on summon was called
Exploring convenience orientation as a food motivation for college students living in residence
halls. This article was found by typing in the keywords cooking spaces for college students.
Among typing this in 7,000 results ended up showing up, but I was able to find an article that
will help me immensely, because one of my criteria questions relate to this subject.

Another way I found resources that will help me conduct this feasibility project was by using
Google Scholar. My fifth resource I used was a source you found for me which was called
College Students Can Benefit by Participating in a Prepaid Meal Plan. I found out more
information on this by typing in the type of it into Google Scholar. This article will be beneficial

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 9

for me for when I need to look at the positives of this topic. I have also obtained information
about all of Hamlines costs on Hamlines website.
Results
The purpose of this study was to determine if it would be feasible for Hamline University
to not make a meal plan mandatory for on campus living students. To determine this the
following question needed to be addressed:

Is there interest from Hamline students to not have a meal plan mandatory?

Will Hamline lose money on this?

Are we able to keep the dining center open for people who do want it?

Is there space available for the students to do their own cooking?

Are dining centers beneficial nutrition wise?

Alternative Options

Alternative options to a dining center would be a key necessity in for the students
attending Hamline University. Options that could take the place of it would be, more cooking
spaces implemented into the Hamline campus or more buildings where there is food around for
people to purchase. A study was conducted and the people that conducted the research stated
that, Students who lack these skills may purchase costlier convenience foods or ready prepared
foods more often (Gaines, 2015) Research conducted on the feasibility of making meal plans
optional indicates that students may not have the skills or ability to cook food for themselves,
therefore leaving no option but for them to go to the dining center.
Revenue Loss

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 10

Hamline University charges $9.50 per meal at the dining center on their campus.
(Hamline.edu, 2016) From this, revenue is brought in from the students consuming the meals.
Revenue is profit from an item being sold; subtracting the expenses the seller needs to produce
the item. This is how Hamline attains their revenue. By not making meal plans mandatory for
on-campus living, and instead making it optional, students could potentially put the University at
a revenue loss. If this idea were to be implemented, the revenue would be significantly lower
than with having it be mandatory. If the revenue would go down it could potentially drop the
food quality down because the school would not have sufficient funds to pay for quality food. In
addition, the colleges may potentially earn revenues that can increase the quantity and quality of
services for on-campus and commuting students. (Moeck, Katsinas, 2008) A couple questions
from the survey that was distributed to Dr. Sorias 1800 Writing and Rhetoric class pertained to
this topic. The question that was asked was How was your experience in regards to the Hamline
dining center?. The students had four choices: very poor, poor, good, excellent. The students in
the class selected good as their choice of preference sitting at 75%. The other 25% of students
checked the box poor. No one in the class indicated that they were very disappointed or
thought it was very good. A study was conducted about the average revenue that comes in at
college dining centers. This would be, on average, a revenue stream of almost $1.6 million per
institution. (Moeck, Katsinas, 2008) This number indicates that if they were to get rid of it
entirely or not make mandatory would insinuate that the dollar amount 1.6 million would be the
average loss the university would acquire. Because of the drop in dining center revenue, it could
potentially make other prices at the college rise. A study was conducted in 2015 stating,
"Housing and meal plans at many colleges and universities now cost more than tuition, and the
dozens of colleges that require students to live in a campus dorm and eat in dining halls for at

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 11

least a year are adding a sometimes-prohibitive cost for those who struggle to pay for higher
education" (Freshman residency rules sometimes force students to pay prohibitive costs, 2015)
But as more students graduate from college carrying significant debt, some say the high cost of
living on campus could be putting an additional burden on the students who can least afford it.
(Douglas-Gabriel, 2015)
Students desire for a meal plan
Students in college have the option of working a job, participating in sports, or doing an
activity other than going to class. With this being an option students have to learn time
management. Another aspect that factors into having the desire for a meal plan is the nutrition
value. Students in fraternities and sororities generally had the best nutrient and food group
intakes, perhaps because students paid a flat fee for meals and housing, and house cooks
prepared and served family-style meals. (Brown, Dresen, and Eggett, 2005, p .445). According
to that specific study it is indicated that off campus food is healthier. A survey that was handed
out to Dr. Sorias Writing and Rhetoric class indicted that 83.3% of the students did not want
Hamline meal plans to be mandatory. This cannot represent the whole population of Hamline,
due to the fact that it was only distributed out to 18 students in that class.
Classroom Opinion Results
In March 2016 18 students were surveyed at Hamline University for a feasibility project about
peoples opinions on if Hamline should have the mandatory requirement to purchase a meal plan
for on campus living students. Two questions that were asked in the survey regarding figure one
were, Can you describe your family's financial situation while you were growing up?, and
Have you ever lived on campus?. The statistics from figure one indicated that 61.1% chose
their familys wealth growing up was middle class and that they lived on campus. Knowing the
wealth of a student growing up is important in this feasibility project because it helps determine
the affordability they have towards the school. The meal plans here are not cheap. Along with
knowing about the wealth, knowing if they live on campus is also beneficial to know because
this project is solely aimed at students who have or are currently living on campus. Without
having the experience of living on campus it would be hard to give feedback to this. Many
college students end up in debt after college and with the additional expense of putting forth
money towards meal plans can be a hindrance. The statistics show that only one person indicated

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 12

that they came from a family in the upper class. This is not to say that they do not care about
where their money goes but they have more flexibility with it as opposed to a person that grew
up in middle class or were poor.

Figure 1. Hamline students wealth growing up and their status of if they live off or oncampus.
The question asked to Hamline students for this particular graph was, If you had the
option of paying for each meal every time you went to the dining center, instead of
making a prepaid expense at the beginning of each semester, would you consider that as
an option?. Figure 2 demonstrates that the statistics were relatively close. For the people
that favored paying for a meal every time they went to the dining center rated at 44.4%
and the people that did not want to have the option of paying for it every time you went
was at 50%. Because the proportions were relatively close this still helps with figuring
out financially how it will impact Hamline as a whole. By giving on campus students the
option to pay for their meals every time they go to the dining center will financially not
be beneficial for Hamline, but beneficial for the students who attend the school. This is
because many students do not use their meal plan every day and essentially every time
they skip a meal they have wasted money, because of their prepaid expense that they
already paid to the university. Surveying these 18 students that attend Hamline suggest
that they would prefer not to have to pay every time and would rather make a prepaid
expense, but because it only has a difference of 5.6% from the people that said yes, there
is still a possibility that if more students at Hamline were surveyed the yes possibility
could spike and surpass the people that favored no. This information is very useful
because it gives me the opinions on how the students feel about putting down a large
prepaid expense to Hamline. The impact of giving them the option to pay every time will
drop in revenue for the cafeteria.

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 13

Figure 2. Hamline students opinions on making a prepaid expense for meals or paying
every time you go to the Hamline Cafeteria.
The question asked regarding figure three was, Should Hamline remove the mandatory
requirement to purchase a meal plan for students who live on campus? Figure 3 suggests
that there was a very strong opinion towards removing the requirement at 83.3%, only
16.7% indicated that they think it would be beneficial for Hamline to keep it. This helps
my feasibility proposal because it gives me an insider about what the students that attend
Hamline want. By getting rid of the requirement for on campus living students to
purchase a meal plan saves the students money. This could potentially lead more students
to live on campus because it could potentially be cheaper for them. Having a substantially
larger proportional number is very encouraging for results because it makes it easier in
determining what students want, whereas if the numbers were closer it would be harder to
determine.

Figure 3. Hamline University students opinions for not making Hamline have the
mandatory requirement to have a meal plan for on campus living students.

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 14

Conclusion
After reviewing my research, I have concluded that not making meal plans mandatory
and instead optional at Hamline University is not feasible. There is a strong desire for students to
not have to pay for this, but finding alternatives to this is not realistic. Implementing stoves and
all the necessities needed for cooking concluded from my research can potentially raise the price
of other campus facilities. Also implementing new and more food buildings around campus are
not ideal either considering it would require tearing down other buildings to put new ones up. It
also would not be beneficial for students who do not have time to cook, therefore leaving it as
the way it is for convenience is beneficial for the student.
Recommendations
As I have found from my research that not making meal plans mandatory for on campus
living students is not feasible, it is recommended that further research be done on this topic. I
have found research pertaining to different options for cooking methods such as implementing
stoves; however, since that would require Hamline to find space to put the stoves for everyone. I
recommend researching the cost of putting stoves in along with the safety of letting people cook,
because not everyone has the same cooking skills. I believe that further research in that area
would be beneficial in this topic, because having a safe place for people to cook is a big point in
making it feasible.

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 15

References
Brown, L., Dresen, R., & Eggett, D. (2005). College students can benefit by participating in a
prepaid meal plan. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 105(3), 445-448.
Casse, D., & Manno, B. V. (1998). The Cost and Price of College and the Value of Higher
Education. Academic Questions, 11(4), 38-54.
Douglas-Gabriel, D. (2015). Freshman Residency Rules Sometimes Force Students to Pay
Prohibitive Costs. The Washington Post.
Gaines, A., Robb, C. A., Knol, L. L., & Sickler, S. (2014). Examining the role of financial
factors, resources and skills in predicting food security status among college students.
International Journal of Consumer Studies, 38(4), 374-384.
Hamline University (2015). Meal and Room Plan Rates.
Hamline University. Retrieved from
www.hamline.edu/offices/student-accounts/room-meal-rates
Marquis, M. (2005). Exploring convenience orientation as a food motivation for college students
living in residence halls. International Journal of Consumer Studies Int J Cons Stud, 29(1), 5563.
Moeck, P. G., Katsinas, S. G., Hardy, D. E., & Bush, V. B. (2008). The Availability, Prospects,
and Fiscal Potential of On-Campus Housing at Rural Community Colleges. Community College
Review, 35(3), 237-249.
Moran, T. (2015). Reforming Campus Dining Plans to Eliminate Waste and Food Injustice.
Evanston Patch.
Willie, M. (2012). Taxing and Tuition: A Legislative Solution to Growing Endowments and the
Rising Costs of a College Degree. Brigham Young University Law Review, 2012(5), 1665.

Appendix: Questionnaire
The purpose of this survey is to discover students' attitudes and interests about if Hamline should
remove the mandatory requirement on purchasing a meal for plan for students who live on
campus. You were chosen for this survey because you attend Hamline University and are
currently enrolled in Dr. Soria's 8am writing class. Your responses to this survey are confidential,
therefore giving you the ability to answer honestly. I am currently enrolled in Dr. Soria's 8am as

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 16

well, and I also attend Hamline. Thank you for taking the time to answer this survey, your
responses will help me conduct my research. For any questions, please contact me by email at
ewinters02@hamline.edu.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

What is your gender?

Male
Female
Transgender
Genderqueer
Can you describe your familys financial situation while you were growing up?
Poor
Middle
Upper
Prefer not to say
Have you ever lived on campus?
Yes
No
How many years have you lived on campus?
0
1
2
3
4
Either if you have a meal plan or had one in the past, how often is/was it used?
Every day
Almost every day
Barely used it
I did/do not use it at all
N/A
When picking a meal plan, what size did you choose?
220 Block Meal Plan
160 Block Meal Plan
75 Block Meal Plan
N/A
Was there any particular food you chose over the other options? If so, please state
what you preferred the most.
8. If you had the option of paying for each meal every time you went to the dining
center, instead of making a prepaid expense at the beginning of each semester,
would you consider that as an option?
- Yes
- No
- N/A
9. How would you rate your past present experience with the Hamline dining center?
- Very Good

Meal Plans Not Mandatory 17

- Good
- Poor
- Very Poor
10. Should Hamline remove the mandatory requirement to purchase a meal plan for
students who live on campus?
- Yes
- No