Students who are required to purchase residence hall meal plans complain they are not getting their money’s worth.

“For 250 bucks a month, I could be getting way more for my money,” said kinesiology major Gabe Winn.

Students complain that when they trade the credits for vouchers, which, unlike credits, can be used at other campus eateries, they lose their value.

David Levy, CSUS Foundation’s marketing services assistant director, confirmed that each meal credit, worth $1.61, can be exchanged for only 35 cents worth of vouchers on meal Plan A. Each credit is worth $1.28 on meal Plan B.

That means students lose $1.26 on Plan A and 93 cents on Plan B of actual money they paid when they purchased the plan.

Students say the exchange rate is unfair.

“I feel like it’s a monopolization of food services because there’s no alternative,” senior Seth Deyo said. “It doesn’t seem like it’s a fair deal for the students.”

Students have a choice between purchasing meal Plan A for $2034 per semester or meal Plan B for $2414. Plan A gives students an average of 10 meals per week and Plan B gives them about 15, according to the meal card manual.

The money on a meal card is broken down into credits and each credit is worth $1.28 on Plan A and $1.61 on Plan B, according to the meal card brochure.

“The vouchers are there because of convenience, but it’s definitely not the best value,” said Levy. “The value is with cash. In order for us to break even, we have to do it that way.”

Dorm residents are required to purchase the meal plan as part of their contracts. The plan is also open to athletes.

The purpose of charging students this inflated rate to redeem vouchers is to get them to dine only at the commons for the best value, Levy said.

“The analogy is like buying a membership to a gym. You pay even when you’re not there,” Levy said.

The policy is listed in the meal card brochure, but many students don’t pay attention to its guidelines, Levy said.

“Since we’re not for profit, we have to be able to run the numbers very carefully so that we can offer the best value for services,” said Dining Commons manager Mark Lewendowski.

The high cost pays for food products, employees’ salaries, maintenance and repairs of the building and supplies, Lewendowski said.

In addition to losing money on the meal plan, students are not content with the building’s maintenance.

Roland Rush, a junior, said the sometimes it is hard to tell what he is eating due to bad lighting.

“I kind of wish the food was a bit fresher. I wish they mixed it up a bit,” Rush said.

Lewendowski disagreed.

“I figured out students can go about 24 days without eating the same thing twice,” Lewendowski said.

The meal card cannot be returned, transferred, shared or refunded, regardless of circumstances. If there is a balance at the semester’s end, it is lost.

“I’m on a mission to use all my credits (by the end of the semester) so I’m going to do what I got to do,” junior Yashika Holmes said.

Rush refuses to use his meal card due to the poor exchange value at other campus vendors. He said that he always uses cash because it uses too many credits.

There are no immediate plans for any changes, but suggestions are strongly recommended, Lewendowski said.

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