College Students and Meal Plan Use
March is National Nutrition Month, and studies conducted by an Idaho State University faculty member shine the light on college students’ use of meal plans. Chances are, if you’re a current or former traditional student, you’ve resided in an on-campus residence hall. Part of this experience included late-night Netflix binges, hanging out with your roommate, pulling all-nighters studying for exams, and of course, the college dining hall. University meal plans are generally required for first and second-year students residing in on-campus residence halls. Meal plans are typically pre-paid and non-refundable and include a number of meals a student can use at the dining hall and cash equivalents that can be used for items at on-campus eateries.
An exciting aspect of meal plans is dining with friends and roommates, which can sometimes be difficult with varying schedules. Meal plans can also be challenging. Some students may have unused meals while others worry they won’t have enough meals for the week, as they buy the least expensive meal plans available with a low number of meals. Dining halls often have set hours which can be difficult for students attending classes and working. Students struggling with their mental health may choose to withdraw from social activities, such as eating in the dining hall. Sometimes, students have alternative food supplies such as food items sent from their parents.
Irene van Woerden, assistant professor in the Department of Community and Public Health was involved in research around health related to food, meal plan use and other on-campus dining trends. She wanted to examine if roommates made similar decisions when it came to their meal plans, and test trends such as whether or not roommates utilized similar numbers of meals from their meal plans. It was also hypothesized that students would be most likely to share a meal with their roommate at the beginning of the academic year, and for students who were similar in body size to their roommate. Van Woerden says, “I am interested in understanding and reducing health disparities, partly to work towards reducing unfairness and injustice. We cannot resolve issues without understanding them.”
Information on the meal plan purchases, frequency of meal plan usage, and roommates of students at a large university in the southwest was gathered from university records. Four standard meal plans were used in this study which included: unlimited meals; 14 meals/week; eight meals/week; and 180 meals a semester. Demographic information and the Pell Grant status of the student participants were provided by the university. A linear generalized estimating equation, also known as a GEE was used to see if the number of meals used by students was predicted by the number of meals their roommate used throughout the semester. This model considered terms for the semester, the meal plan, Pell Grant status, residence hall, age, race, and roommates having the same plan. Tests were also performed to discover if the percentage of meals that students and roommates used at the same time differed by students’ meal plans.
Van Woerden also wanted to examine students’ food security status and meal plan usage. In a separate study, food security status was measured by the USDA six-item food security form. The university provided information on when the meals were used by date/time stamp. Mental health was measured using the 2013 American College Health Association survey. Economic status was determined by Pell Grant Status, and students were asked three survey questions to determine their alternative food supplies. Demographics were provided by the university. For each type of meal plan, GEEs were again utilized to see if food security status at the end of each semester was predicted by how often a student used their meal plan 28 days prior to the survey completion.
The results of Dr. van Woerden’s research show that female students whose roommate was on the same meal plan used an extra eight meals per semester on average, and the number of meals used in the spring semester were significantly associated with the number their roommate used during that semester. When it came to examining meal plan joint usage, it was found that the proportion of meals students used at the same place and time was higher in the fall than in the spring. Joint meal usage among females were more likely to take place if the student and their roommate were of the same race/ethnicity. Students were most likely to use the dining hall with their roommate in August (start of the semester), joint meal plan usage between roommates shrunk as the year went on. More students were likely to use a meal with their roommate on weekends.
Food security status at the end of the spring semester was associated with the student’s meal plan, and those who had the more expensive meal plans used their plan more often. Surprisingly, students reported food insecurity while having unused pre-paid meals available to them. Those on a meal plan with 180 meals and who were employed reported less meal usage, no association between mental health status was associated with the number of meals used on this meal plan. Students who received Pell grants bought the least expensive meal plan.
“This topic is important to study because proper nutrition is crucial to students. Not getting proper nutrition can impact students’ ability to do well in work and school. Understanding how students use their meal plans can provide the framework for novel changes regarding student meal plans, aimed at improving student nutrition and the student experience on campus,” Van Woerden explains. The associations found between food insecurity and meal plan use suggest that determining why students are not fully using their meal plan could be a highly cost-effective method of reducing food insecurity among college students with a meal plan.
To read more about Dr. Van Woerden’s research, visit:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195666319306105?via%3Dihub
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/4/904?type=check_update&version=1
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/9/1996?type=check_update&version=1
