Disappointed by Dining here at FSU
Written By: Ty
Amis, Shannon Farley, Tre Stewart & Dynia Walker
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| Entrance to Chesapeake Dining Hall (PC: Tre Stewart) |
When
you think of a college dining hall you should think of students coming together
to talk about their day over an enjoyable meal. Is this the case for Chesapeake
Dining Hall at Frostburg State University? The students of Frostburg would all
have different opinions on the meal selection, some would say the selection is
enjoyable, while others would say that it is a waste of money. Most of the
student body says that they are paying a despicable amount of money to the
university for their meal plans only to be served disgraceful meals for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Sitting
down the David Glenn, Director of Dining Services here at Frostburg State
University, the student’s voices of concern fueled the conversation. Glenn,
Director since Chartwells Higher Education Dining Services signed a contract
with Frostburg 2014, reassures that “we [Chartwells] always want student
feedback.”
One
of the main concerns of students is cost. Where does their money go? How are meal plans determined? And so on. Glenn tried his best to explain the logistics
of a complicated service system. It starts from the students. Frostburg has 4,961
undergrads; out of that about 2,300 have meal plans, most of these numbers come
from students who live in dorms and are required to have a meal plan, while
residents of Edgewood Commons and off campus students have the option to
purchase a meal plan or not. For an average meal plan that provides a student
with 14 meals a week, plus $100 to spend as they please, a student would pay
$2,044 to the school. On average, this means Chartwells is taking in about
$4,701,200 a semester.
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| Disappointed by the selection, students dispose of half-eaten plates. (PC: Tre Stewart) |
Although
improvements have been made, and the facilities and services kept up, Chartwells
still leaves students wondering, what money is left for the actual food? Nicole
Picone, a senior education student recalls her feelings from four years of on
campus dining. “My frustrations are simple, at least I think so. I’m paying, or
my parents are, for food that never seems to turn out so great.”
Chef
Adam Kenney develops Chesapeake Dining Hall menus, and like all food service,
there are some wins and some losses. As Glenn so quickly admitted, “some dishes
don’t register as well with students as we hope, others surpass our
expectations. It really depends.” We took our own observations to the students,
to see what they had to say about the selection. Loren Ward, a junior who
resides on campus feels as though the selection he is being offered is subpar.
He laughs as he explains, “We don’t need
all the gourmet meals they make incorrectly. Some good wholesome meals will do
just fine.”
With
only about 800 off campus students holding a meal plan, there must be a reason
students choose not to bother with purchasing a meal plan once they leave dorm
halls. Senior Justin Turner moved off campus his junior year and has not
purchased a meal plan since he was required to in dorm halls. Turner says he
does not purchase meal plans anymore because “the amount of meals per semester
is a rip off compared to just buying groceries for a semester.” When Turner
held a meal plan he did not like that dinner hours ended as early as 8pm.
Turner also says the quality of “the food is not always fresh, the only thing
they have that’s fresh is the omelet station.”
Paris
Griggs, a Resident Assistant of Edgewood Commons says that the only reason she
has and can afford a meal plan is because it is a benefit of the job. She says
she uses her meal plan to go to the café “I go on Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays for Brunch. That’s when they have omelettes. If they don’t have good
food, I’ll get an omelet and a waffle. Sometimes they will do quesadillas
which are good but when they try and be fancy is when it’s nasty.”
Chartwells
says it depends on student feedback to determine what dishes are keepers, and
which ones FSU student’s could do without. By going through our Student
Government Association as well as holding several focus groups throughout the
year, Chartwells believes they have a pretty good gauge of what students want.
Another common practice, Chartwells distributes several surveys throughout the
semester. On average ,they receive about 400 back. By looking at the numbers,
and correlating them with days, staff can determine their strengths and
weaknesses. When scores aren’t where they should be, comments are then read. Staff
then determines what changes should be made.
Although improvements take time, students still question
where their money is going and why there are so many regulations and limits of
holding a meal plan. Griggs, Picone, Turner, and Ward all complained about
things such as meal plan hours and the quality of the food. The students do not
believe the price of having a meal plan is equivalent to what they are being
offered. There are students giving feedback through surveys, there is proof of
wasted food with Project: Clean Plate, yet there are still no changes in any of
the food choices, prices, or hours. With a lack of clear responses, or a public
statement outlining how things are being improved, it seems the only time this
problem is acknowledged is when students go searching for answers. In a public institution
like our own, all students are asking for is to be heard, to feel as though
their opinions are taken into consideration, and to be able to see actual improvements
based off of their feedback.
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Attached to Chesapeake Dining Hall,
and located right on campus, Outtakes is a quick in-and-out convenience store. Run
through Chartwells as well, Outtakes is a place where students who are on
campus can conveniently run to at all hours of the day and night to grab a
snack. They also have small stuff students may forget when they move away from
home. Band-Aids, dryer sheets, and Tylenol as well as Tostitos, candy bars and
soda can all be found with its four walls. To pay, students have the option of
using their Bonus dollars that come with their meal plan, Bobcat dollars, which
are loaded onto the card like a debit card, or cash and credit.
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| Chartwells "convenience store", Outtakes. (PC:Tre Stewart) |
For the past few years, students
have noticed that prices have been steadily rising on these smaller items at
Outtakes, and staying the same at Frostburg’s local 7-11. After conducting a
price comparison, reporters found that a single Pepi at 7-11 cost $1.72 and
one at Outtakes cost $1.89 Almost a 9% difference in cost (Item 1).
To an untrained eye, or an adult with a steady income, these prices wouldn’t make them turn their heads. But for students, that difference can have an impact on whether or not a they decide to keep their purchase on campus, or take their business elsewhere. Ashley Darby, a sophomore and Resident Assistant, says that sometimes that extra change is too much for her. “Personally, I can’t justify spending almost a whole extra dollar. Everyone on this campus, no matter his or her background is a struggling college kid. Some days, even if I’m hungry, I just don’t have the money. Or I need to spend it on something else-like gas.”
To an untrained eye, or an adult with a steady income, these prices wouldn’t make them turn their heads. But for students, that difference can have an impact on whether or not a they decide to keep their purchase on campus, or take their business elsewhere. Ashley Darby, a sophomore and Resident Assistant, says that sometimes that extra change is too much for her. “Personally, I can’t justify spending almost a whole extra dollar. Everyone on this campus, no matter his or her background is a struggling college kid. Some days, even if I’m hungry, I just don’t have the money. Or I need to spend it on something else-like gas.”
Bg of Chips
|
Cup-o-Soup
|
Pepsi
|
|
7-11
|
2.04
|
.99
|
1.72
|
Outtakes
|
2.79
|
2.09
|
1.89
|
Item 1. Prices accurate as of Dec. 4th, 2016. Data Collected by authors.
David Glenn, Chartwell’s Director
of Dining Services here at FSU, wants students to know that those prices are
not just made up. In fact, he explains that during the semester, those prices
don’t raise at all. Of course, inflation has to be taken into account somewhere, but Glenn reassures, “we won't raise the prices as they are being raised outside
of us. If somewhere down in La Vale has a price increase, you won't see that
here until the whole next school year.” A clearer understanding of how pricing
works could hopefully help more students have a less negative feel towards what
they are paying for, and decrease students negative feelings towards Chartwells
as a whole.
Other than the prices, students do
genuinely enjoy Outtakes and the service it offers. Reflecting back to when she
was a freshman and lived on campus, Morgan Cuneo says, “the array of products
Outtakes had limited the amount of times I had to beg for a ride, or wait for
the Allegany County Transit bus, to grab some milk.” As busy college students, we all know that time is valuable and having the ability to just walk through
campus for what you need is priceless. The idea of Outtakes makes perfect sense
for a college campus, but more other than not we find ourselves faced with
prices that as students we don’t know if we can continue to afford, settling
for what we can get.
Outtakes Hours of Operation are as
listed: Monday-Friday: 7.30am-1.30am.
Saturday: 10.30am-1.30am.
Sunday: 10.30am-Midnight.
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Helpful Web Links:
This webpage is Chartwells, the corportation's, primary site. In additions to explaining where they get their produce from, the site also shows what Chartwells does to help the communities they are in. This link gives an overall better understanding of the different levels of industry Chartwells interacts with. Also, if students feel strongly about this issue, they can bypass any Frostburg outlets and take matters up with the parent organization.
A direct link to Frostburg's Dining. From here students can find information regarding their own meal plans, switching plans, and other Frequently Asked Questions. they can also find contact information to speak with the numerous staff members Chartwells employs on FSU's campus.
If students want to give direct feeback to Chartwells, this link is where they can fill out a form to do so. We hope that they more students who are actively participating in giving feedback, the more changes we might see.
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