Living in a townhouse seems to be a huge accomplishment for a lot of students. They look forward to living in the house because of the benefits that come with it. There is a lot more privacy, it is easier to commute to parties, and it allows students to live with their close friends. It seems that nothing bad can come out of living in the house until it is time to check the amount of meal plan money left.

Students know that after moving into the house the starting out meal plan is significantly less than they are used to. Townhouse residents start off with the green plan that is $500 swipe and $25 flex in total per semester.

“This is based on the structure and the amenities of the townhouse,” says Director of Dining Operations Clifford Mondesir.

The townhouse has an apartment-like setup with a full kitchen and living room along which is shared by eight residents.  All eight residents are expected to take advantage of the kitchen provided. It is hard to comprehend why any student that is living on campus should start out with $500 swipe and $25 flex. That is hard to live by even if the expectations for townhouse residents is to cook. That is the lowest meal plan a student can receive.

Even though students can upgrade their meal plan, why start off with such a low meal plan to begin with? Pace often gives a breakdown of how students should spend their meal plan daily and weekly so that they budget correctly to last them the semester. According to the breakdown for the green plan, a student is suggested to spend a daily average of $5 and a weekly average of $27.

A classic burger on the menu costs $4.99. That’s with no cheese, so according to the breakdown Pace suggested a student should only walk out with a burger and call it a day. No side, no beverage, no nothing. A bacon egg and cheese sandwich costs $4.19. If the student wants a hash brown, that’s extra. Any topping that a student would like to add to any meal would cost extra. Again, I would like to emphasize that townhouse residents are advised to walk out with one item to eat for the day.

That’s a hard request to ask from anybody in the Pace community. I understand townhouse residents should be cooking more than they eat at Kessel but now that is putting a financial toll on those residents. The more townhouse residents cook at home the more they have to purchase groceries and more money is coming out of their pocket.

I’m not saying townhouse residents should start off with a bronze ($1,800 swipe and $115 flex) or a silver meal plan ($2,000 swipe and $150 flex) but $500 swipe and $25 flex is way too low. More can be provided for the townhouse residents in that aspect and that’ll be one more benefit in favor of the townhouse.