Kean offers new, cheaper meal plan

Kean University created a new, cheaper meal plan option this semester in the wake of a proposed bill that would ban all colleges from requiring residential students to purchase expensive meal plans.

Titled the declining balance option, the new plan option costs $1,500 per semester, according to the meal plan options page located on the homepage of the Office of Residential Student Services. Currently, the plan is available only for juniors and seniors.

The previous residential meal plan cost from $1,710 to $1,197 per semester, according to the information provided on the University’s web page.

Students may spend their allotted balance at any of the following eateries on campus: The Miron Student Center cafeteria, The Cougar Den, Barnes and Noble Café, Ursino, Jersey Mike’s, Center for Academic Success and the University Library Starbucks.

The university web page also states that the money can be used for the upcoming eateries –Auntie Anne’s and Smashburger –as well as selected off campus venues that will be announced later in the academic year.

Students are welcoming the new plan with open arms (and stomachs).

“This meal plan is way more affordable,” said Deanna Verringia, a senior, marketing major who lives in one of the residential halls. “The other plans in the past were such a rip off.”

The issue of expensive meal plans was raised last year in New Jersey when the state Assembly passed Act 2811, which states that all four-year public and

independent colleges in the state are prohibited from requiring residential students to purchase a meal plan.

The bill was sent to the state Senate Committee on Higher Education. Legislation in New Jersey must be approved by both the state Assembly and the Senate, and then signed by the governor before it becomes a

law.

The Assembly’s proposed bill states that “…the only type of meal plan that an institution may offer its students, is one designed as a spending allowance, which works similar to a bank debit card,” according to the website, www.njleg.state.gov.

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