I totally agree! I remember when it was Aramark a few years back (guessing it still is) and having to sign up for the godawful meal plan freshman year, even though I lived in Mines Park with a full sized kitchen. If students want to cook their own meals, they should be able to! There were several times a week when the meals were so bad the only decent and safe option was cereal (medium rare chicken, anyone?) Had to skip lunch Fridays or pack a sack lunch, because my class schedule didn't line up with the kitchen schedule. This is one of the reasons I'm hesitant to donate as an alumnus - still sore that I had no choice, and that it's still going on.

In order to have your body running optimally, three (or four or five) meals a day is recommended. If Mines takes that away from the students that need those meals, especially students that are diabetic or hypoglycemic, they're literally taking away the ability for students to be healthy. Mines can't lose any money having certain options available, the staff have to work the same hours anyway, and just allowing the same person in three times a day instead of two won't change much overall. Freshmen shouldn't be REQUIRED to buy a meal plan if they can't get the amount of meals they need to sustain themselves. It's ridiculous to expect them to go to the grocery store (especially if freshmen can't have cars on campus), or even to the periodic table, to make up for the meals they can't get at Mines Market with their REQUIRED TO PURCHASE meal plan. If the option is not available to have three meals a day, then have an option to completely forgo the meal plan option all together. I would have saved so much money if I just bought my own food rather than having to have a meal plan here, but, being out of state and not having a car (and not knowing anyone here so I didn't have friends with cars), it was definitely better to have a meal plan because I had no way to grocery shop and store a legitimate amount of food (due to dorms restrictions on fridges and their extremely cramped space) and no efficient way to cook my meals (Bradford didn't have kitchens and freshman year Randall's wasn't all that much of a kitchen). So, Mines, please either offer an option for your REQUIRED TO PURCHASE meal plans that actually will feed your students, or offer an option for them to opt out completely. It's unacceptable for you to not allow options for your students to eat when you require them to purchase meal plans.