Opinion: Calculating the cost: Goudy meal plans are not worth it

A bowl of Goudy pasta. Graphic by Ellie Starr.

Goudy has received a multitude of complaints throughout the years. From “Chicken Gate,” a scandal involving undercooked chicken being served to students in 2023, to simple criticisms of the quality, student complaints always seem to be about food. The prices that students and parents are paying to experience Goudy, however, are not as thoroughly discussed. When presented with the meal plan options, it is easy to recognize that the prices are high. However, without doing the math, it can appear that this is just the fair price students have to pay for 15 weeks’ worth of meals. This is not the case, though; buying your food in cash can cost up to $1,782 less than buying a meal plan. This statistic, as well as the evidence presented below, begs the question of whether or not the meal plan is worth it and if not, why it is the only option provided to students who are already paying so much for room and board.

So let's do the math together, and see if meal plan holders are getting their money's worth. Holders of the 19-meal plan pay $3,985 per term. If we subtract the $50 of flex dollars that this plan provides, we are left with $3,935 left over for housing to provide you with a guaranteed ticket to every meal that Goudy serves. For students, breakfast is priced at $5.80, Lunch/Brunch at $8.50 and Dinner is $9.90. If students went to all 19 meals for the week, they would spend $157.80 per week buying them outright. If we multiply this number by the 15 weeks of school, the cost totals $2,367. This is a whopping $1,568 less than the meal plan that students are paying for to get 19 meals. 

There is a similar price gap in the other plans as well. Using the same math as above, if a student went to the most expensive combination of meals throughout the week, they would be spending $1,932 for 14 meals and $1,422 for 10 meals a week. Even if we subtract the flex dollars from the price of the meal plan, buying each meal separately would save you $1,782 for the 14 meal plan and $1,728 for the 10. 

Information regarding individual meal prices cannot be found on the Willamette website, nor is it listed on the Bon Appetit Willamette website. The only way to obtain this information appears to be to read the list of prices off of a flier sitting at the front kiosk in Goudy. When contacted with questions about the price of meal plansBon Appetit let us know that housing determines those prices. Housing did not respond to a request for comment. 

Students living on campus who do not have a kitchen amenity are required to have and pay for a meal plan. This seems like an obvious stipulation for a college student living on campus, given that they have few other ways to feed themselves. However, the cost of the meal plan is the true issue — because the plan is required, prices can be set with little room for alternatives. 

Of course, the benefit to paying extra for the meal plan despite the price gap would be that meal plans can be paid for by scholarships or loans. Not everyone can afford to pay the price of tuition, housing and dining upfront, and this system creates a delayed convenience for the student. It does not, however, seem fair to only give students this one option. 

After hearing about the size of this pricing gap, Andrew Henne (’26) found the situation to be unfair, and said “[they think] the fact that the university doesn't really make that information clear, like the fact that doing the math is the only way to figure that out, is kind of shitty.” Furthermore, they added, “Framing the different meal plan tiers as budget options for a student, then, it is very misleading for them to all be more expensive than it would be to just not do any meal plan at all.”

Ezra Neely (’26) added that the lack of information regarding these numbers and the breakdown of the cost of meal plans is doing a disservice to the tuition payers. “It seems like we are more focused on trying to help the university and not the students,” said Neely. 

This theory would make sense if the price gap was going towards the betterment of Goudy — it is possible that the extra costs paid by students on a meal plan go towards staffing, supplies, materials, etc., in order to keep the price down for those not in the meal plan. The current meal plan structure is thus in the best interest of students or other customers without a plan, but certainly not for those who are required to have one.

Even so, this information should be disclosed to those paying inflated prices or at least be transparent regarding this price bump. Alongside transparency, students living on campus should also have the opportunity to choose another option for their dining pleasures, one that might grant a bit more grace to their pocketbooks.