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Parent upset by $450 administrative charge in meal plan; school says cost covers operation
By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Sep 02, 2008
When Wally McGilvray spent $1,850 for a meal plan for her son at the University of Akron this fall, she expected all the money to be available for his food.
Instead, the university deposited $1,400 in his dining account and set aside an additional $450 as an administrative fee that her son can't touch.
The administrative fee upset the Brooklyn Heights mother, who is struggling to pay for her son Clifton's tuition, books and on-campus housing.
''We're just whipped, we're tired, we're worn out,'' she said. ''I know there's got to be a coverage charge, but $450? Somebody's making a hell of a lot of money.''
She was complaining about a feature in the university's new Gold Plan, which allows her son to eat on or off campus.
But every time he dines off campus, he loses — up to $450 for the semester.
Zia Ahmed, executive director of UA's dining services, said the $450 fee is justified, given the range and options that students have for meals.
''We have to hold part of their money back because we have to ensure that our facilities can operate,'' he said. ''We're preparing for them to be here, whether they are or not.''
The Gold Plan — the most costly of the university's five options for on-campus students — includes administrative fees to cover electricity, employee wages and other costs of doing business such as ''advanced safety and culinary training,'' according to the UA Web site.
The only way to recapture the fee is to eat on campus every meal and take advantage of a 25 percent discount from the menu price.
Other costs included
Many college and university dining services fold administrative fees for lighting, silverware and salaries into student dining fees. State-supported universities do not use state funds to pay for dining services.
Many times the fees are invisible. As long as the student eats each meal on campus, the fee is part of the cost of delivering the wide array of foods — Thai, African, handmade pizzas, made-to-order omelettes and gluten-free foods — at virtually every hour of the day or night.
At Ohio State, for example, the yearly $1,350 administrative fee embedded in a $4,350 dining plan allows the university to offer extended hours at multiple locations, OSU spokeswoman Ruth Gerstner said.
''Most places just make the charge invisible'' by folding it into the room and board charge and limiting options, she said. ''We've made it more and more complicated.''
Almost 200 students who live on the Columbus campus pay the $465 per-quarter fee even though they've chosen not to buy a meal plan at all.
OSU feels they should bear part of the cost of the upkeep of the dining halls, because they can still enter any eatery at any time to eat, Gerstner said.
Kent State charges a $35 administrative fee for its ''lite'' plan, the most modest plan for on-campus students. The total cost of this plan is $1,340 per semester.
Miami University, the University of Dayton and Ohio Wesleyan also offer declining meal plans that UA says are similar to its Gold Plan, in which the cost of food is deducted from the students' credit-cardlike ID each time they eat.
''The simplest way to say it is that there is a certain number of students on campus and a certain overhead with keeping the dining services running,'' said Gail Campana, marketing director for the National Association of College and University Food Services.
''Dining services do not have the option of going out of business,'' she said.
A must for on campus
Still, UA's $450 fee sticks in the craw of Wally McGilvray, who views it as excessive.
For one thing, she didn't want to buy a meal plan for her son at all, as he prefers to eat off campus, but the university insists that on-campus students buy one if their residence hall does not have a kitchen.
Then when she thought she was buying her son the most exclusive plan possible, she learned that nearly 25 percent of the payment was for overhead.
''The way this caught my attention is that another student questioned it,'' she said. ''My brother, who is an accountant, and I sat down and figured it out. We were mind-boggled.''
Front-line UA staff got ''flustered'' when asked to explain the charge on her son's Gold Plan, which gives him $87.50 a week at two on-campus locations or at 40-some off-campus restaurants, she said.
Flexible plan
But Ahmed, the food service director, maintains the plan offers the ultimate in flexibility for students who want the opportunity to eat on campus and off.
Not only do students get to choose where they eat, but the Gold Plan also offers the 25 percent discount at the two UA eateries, he said.
The fee is embedded in other dining plans that UA offers. But this one is different in that UA is upfront about the fee, much as a restaurant would break down the cost of a dinner into $8 for food and $3 for overhead, for a total bill of $11.
McGilvray sees it differently.
''No matter how you sugarcoat it, they're ripping the parents off,'' she said.
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
When Wally McGilvray spent $1,850 for a meal plan for her son at the University of Akron this fall, she expected all the money to be available for his food.
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