When I moved to NKU’s campus my freshman year of college, I was excited to begin a new life away from home. I had never been away from home for more than two days without a parent, and I was excited to live on my own. Now that I’m in my fourth semester of living on campus, I am almost willing to do anything to get myself off campus, and get away from the awful food they force-feed on me.

NKU forces their on-campus residents that live in the dorms to choose from one of four meal plans with a price that ranges from $1,185 through $1,305, according to the NKU dining Web site. This money is in addition to the money you must pay to live on campus. Each plan offers you meals at the cafeterias in Norse Commons and Callahan Hall. It also gives you flex dollars that you can spend at other on-campus dining areas.

While an on-campus meal plan is probably a good idea for a lot of students, some students don’t want to be restricted to where and what they can eat. I personally am a very good chef and enjoy going to the grocery to find my own food, and my cooked meals are usually of better quality and much healthier for me than meals served on campus.

‘I love cooking, and I’m good at it’ said sophomore Music major Joe Singleton. ‘I also like to go eat out, but because of the money I pay to on-campus dining, I always feel forced to eat in the cafeteria.’ The restaurants in the Student Union are generic versions of well-known fast food restaurants, and you can see the difference in the price and the overall quality of the food.

‘Campus dining is basically the reason I’ve decided to move home next semester and just commute,’ said Bethany Sheneman, a freshman Music major. ‘I really don’t like the food in the cafeteria, and I have already run out of flex dollars because the Student Union is overpriced. I love living on campus, but because of meal plans, I can’t eat out and I don’t like the food I eat, so I’m moving home.’

I believe that the campus would draw in more people into living on campus if meal plans weren’t a mandatory requirement to reside in the NKU dorms. I would personally stay on campus, but instead, I’m leaving because of an issue with food. I believe NKU should require a meal plan for freshman living on campus and allow upperclassmen to have a choice whether or not to purchase the plan. Upperclassmen have adapted to the college life and may feel they are ready to be in charge of there own menus. They should be given the option to eat on NKU’s campus — or choose to fend for themselves.

Editorial by Nick Jones