Photo courtesy of Max Paster ‘25
By Paige Comeau ’26
Opinion Editor
I have always been confused by the fact that I cannot use my meal swipes at every dining location on campus. Of course, they work in the Dining Commons and the two Grab ’n Go stations; however, I cannot use them to get coffee at the Frances Perk café or a burger at the Cochary Pub & Kitchen. While I understand that certain items, such as alcoholic beverages at the Pub, cannot be included on the meal plan due to state law, blacklisting both locations entirely seems not only futile but frustrating. I already pay for the meal plan — which, since I live on campus as a full-time residential student, I cannot opt out of — so why do I have to spend more money to access other dining options right here on campus?
This was especially upsetting to me when I would talk to my friends and family at other colleges who could use meal swipes at every dining location across their campuses, including cafes, restaurants and sometimes even grocery stores. To understand Mount Holyoke’s meal plan more extensively, I took a look at the dining across the Five Colleges, all of which have both dining halls and cafes or other locations, to see if this was a common policy or not.
First, let us take a look at MHC’s own meal plan. MHC’s meal plan is mandatory for all full-time residential students and includes 25 meal swipes at the Dining Commons per week; $30 in dining dollars, which can be used at any dining location as well as the vending machines; 5 guest swipes per semester and one swipe at the Grab-and-Go per day. In the itemized breakdown of MHC’s tuition and fees, “Board,” which generally means the meals provided for one student during their stay, is listed at $9,808, or $4,904 per semester. This price makes Mount Holyoke’s meal plan the most expensive of the Five Colleges after Smith College, whose meal plan I estimate to cost about $10,000 to $11,000 a year. Due to this, I will compare the College’s meal plan to the most expensive and inclusive meal plan available at each institution within the Five Colleges offers.
Let’s begin with MHC’s sister school, Smith. As aforementioned, Smith is likely the only school with a more expensive meal plan than Mount Holyoke. However, they also arguably offer more for the cost. Smith students receive five meal swipes a day, which can be used at any dining location, either a traditional dining hall or at the retail cafes at a certain cost per swipe. Smith students also receive eight guest swipes per year and $110 dining dollars to be used at any dining location.
At UMass Amherst, the institution’s most expensive meal plan option, the Unlimited 500, is priced at $4,075 per semester, about $800 less than Mount Holyoke’s plan. This meal plan includes unlimited access to all four dining commons, 15 guest swipes and $500 in dining dollars.
At Hampshire, the institution’s most expensive meal plan option — the full meal plan — is priced at $3,259 per semester, a full $1,645 less than Mount Holyoke’s price per semester. This meal plan includes full access to the dining commons for three meals a day on weekdays, as well as two meals — brunch and dinner — on the weekends and a snack and beverage service between meals. With the full meal plan, Hampshire students receive $500 dining dollars per semester to use at any of their retail dining locations, which, unlike the $30 provided by MHC, will roll over into the next semester if unused. The dining dollars do expire at the end of the academic year. All students receive five guest meal swipes per semester and $250 Hamp Dollars, to be used at retail dining locations and the campus store.
The meal plan closest to Mount Holyoke’s in both price and structure is Amherst College, which mandates residential students enroll in a meal plan, either the unlimited meal plan or the lunch and dinner plan. For my purposes I am looking at the unlimited plan, which costs $4,225 per semester, which still costs $683 less than MHC’s plan each term. This meal plan includes unlimited access to the Dining Halls seven days a week and one swipe at their Grab-and-Go per day. Students are given five guest swipes per semester.
Overall, in looking at the meal plans of the other five colleges, it becomes clear that most students in the Pioneer Valley have more flexibility in dining options for less money. At Smith, for a similar price per semester, students are given $80 more in Dining Dollars and are allotted a certain amount per meal swipe they may use at retail dining locations. And for much less, while UMass and Hampshire do not offer meal swipes at their retail dining locations, they do offer students $500 in Dining Dollars versus Mount Holyoke’s $30, enabling students to easily eat at a cafe or restaurant without spending money outside of their meal plan. And, although Amherst College doesn’t offer any Dining Dollars, it is important to note that only around 60% of the Amherst student body receives financial aid versus Mount Holyoke’s 76%, making it more likely that their students can afford the extra costs of retail dining more than MHC’s students.
With the constant tuition increases, I find it fundamentally unfair that MHC students are paying more money for their food than other five college students with less flexibility to dine across all campus locations. I am a low-income, first generation student who has to work hard waitressing between semesters so I can afford to attend Mount Holyoke College each year. But, for some reason, the meal plan I have to pay for does not give me flexibility around campus — I must pay with more of my hard earned money to enjoy a coffee or milkshake with friends. As an institution that claims to be a place “where first-generation and low-income students thrive,” Mount Holyoke really should take a look at its meal plan and question if it really allows for the diversity it claims to support.
Madeleine Diesl ’28 contributed fact-checking.