Everyone likes their meal plan, right?

What’s everyone’s favorite place to eat with their meal plan? Steak Escape? The Black Swamp Pub? Chickendipity? How about one of the dining halls such as the Carillon Place or The Oaks? Maybe someone is an Outtakes type of person.

Ever wonder how many people would enjoy using their meal plan at off-campus locations? If that was possible, meal plans would definitely be more desirable and worth purchasing.

The University should definitely look into partnering with locations such as Chipotle, Oasis, Insomnia, Subway and Jimmy John’s to allow meal plan to be used there. A major reason for this is because campus options are limited.

Most campus locations such as Steak Escape and Panda Express close around 8 p.m., while others, such as Outtakes, are open a little later. Then there’s Marco’s pizza which is typically open until 2 a.m. But what about after 2 a.m.?

Until Dunkin Donuts opens at 6 a.m., only off-campus locations are available to the night owl students. Oasis takes orders until 3 a.m., as does

Jimmy John’s.

The life of a college student can get pretty difficult, as 1 in 4 college kids are unemployed and enrolled full-time with no financial stability other than a refund check. So purchasing food off-campus can get pretty pricey if done frequently.

In addition to making meal plan useful off-campus, there should also be a place on campus that is open until 6 a.m. to give students who are up late/early that extra option. An Outtakes that stays open all night would be a great option as students could quickly run there and get food to eat to last them through the late night/early morning hours.

Many college students stay up late doing homework, which can keep them awake through the morning, so I’m sure this idea would appeal to

many people.

BGSU Dining is currently thinking about ways to improve the use of meal plan. I recently attended a workshop where people brainstormed ideas about how to make the meal plan better. I expressed all of the ideas above and the guy who was running the workshop said that they would take the ideas into consideration. They are definitely looking into how students can get more out of their meal plans.

I really encourage students to give their input about how they think their meal plan should be handled. If no students give their opinions about how to make things better, then how can they expect things to get better? No one is going to respond to a

closed mouth.

People think they don’t have a say in what happens on this campus, but little do they know that the students here are the voice of the University. It’s only beneficial to take advantage of it and express your thoughts on a situation so that your voice

can be heard.

BGSU Dining follows me on Twitter, so whenever I have a problem or an issue I want to address, I send them a direct message telling them the situation.

Recently, I messaged them about how the French toast sticks were being overcooked at The Oaks. They instantly took care of the problem and the next time they served French toast sticks, they were cooked to perfection. Very delicious.

BGSU Dining is here for the students, so if there’s something that should be brought to their attention, be sure to give a follow on Twitter @BGSUDining and tweet them if you have questions or concerns.

Respond to Torrance at

[email protected]