College and Dorm Meal Plans Are Getting More Expensive
If college tuition fees are not high enough, there are several “hidden” costs to consider . Food, for example, can stack. College meal plans have increased by nearly 50% over the past decade, according to the Ministry of Education.
Meal plans allow students to eat a certain number of meals in the college cafeteria each week. According to analysis from Hechinger’s report, the average cost of these plans is higher than what the average person spends on food (highlighted by us):
On average, college and university charge about $ 4,500, or $ 18.75 a day, for a three-meal contract that spans eight months or so of a typical school year … That’s more than the average $ 3,989, or less than The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that one person spends $ 11 a day on food, which means that students seem to be spending 70 percent more on campus a day than they would likely pay to cook and eat on their own.
These are not just meal plans. The cost of living and boarding at public four-year colleges has increased 28 percent over the past decade, according to the College Council . Ten years is a long time, but keep in mind, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , the cumulative inflation rate over the same time period is 20 percent.
College students are probably not very surprised by this data, but if you are studying colleges or just working on your budget, this is good information. For more information, go to the full version of the message at the link below.
The Reason The College Continues To Cost More: The Cost of Meal Plans | Hechinger’s report