For a couple of years now, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many people across the world. Due to the chaos the pandemic has caused, people were forced to make big decisions and changes in order to effectively deal with the current times. As uncomfortable as the situation is, everyone has been forced into coping with the pandemic. One of the most jarring ways universities have dealt with COVID-19 safety and regulations is with their changes to their food and meal plans.

Before the pandemic, colleges and universities objectively provided better options on campus when it came to their food selections. Everything has changed now. More times than not, students are fed lesser quality food with very few options. A junior UIS student stated, “The food on campus just sucks now. We don’t have as many choices and the choices we do have are just not good.” In addition to this, the student also discussed the new hours that have been implemented since the changes due to the pandemic. At first, the food hours on campus lasted until midnight. Now, students are not able to get food past 8pm. Some students’ classes are not done until later in the evening so they would not be able to pick up food unless they were able to do so prior to beginning their class.

Many other universities share similar changes when it comes to the meals they offer. A graduating senior from Illinois College, also a former food service worker at the University, stated, “I saw upfront how the quality of food changed and it wasn’t for the better. I don’t think they took enough time to fully evaluate the quality of their food inventory or meals before sending the food out and letting students eat it.” Needless to say, students also saw firsthand the priorities of the university to put the strict COVID-19 safety protocols over the actual quality of the food they feed their students. Essentially, it feels like these schools and universities are looking to save money any way they can and they are trying to do so by offering students lesser quality meals.

Are students getting charged less for these lesser quality meals? The answer is absolutely not. Students are actually being charged more for their meal plans than they were in the past. At UIS, the price of a silver meal plan is now $1,400, compared to the $1,150 the meal plan used to be. Some schools have also increased the individual price for food per item, forcing students to use more of their meal plan in every transaction for lesser quality food.