MU Food Service
Meal Plans and the I-Card
The I-Card program offers a real convenience to students living on campus who participate in the residential meal plans. However, the student soon learns that available food on campus falls into two categories, food that is part of the meal plan, and food that is not.
The I-Card funds are split into two categories, the Union Market account for the meal plan food, and the Bod Bucks account for the non-meal plan food. The biggest distinction between these two categories is that Bod Bucks monies are refundable upon graduation or withdrawal, while money left in the Union Market account is "donated" to the University at the end of each academic year.
This important distinction is included in the meal plan brochure, but is not clearly stated in the parent handbook, where "Food is also available in the Convenience Store" would give the impression that the Convenience Store is part of the Union Market offering.
Students Lose/University "Profits"
"Students Are Our Business" (pdf) is the marketing theme in the university's meal plan brochure. As most persons know, business is engaged in with a profit motive. If the administration could effectively operate a university, there would no doubt be a profit in food service. The students are certainly contributing to that cause. The trend over the past few years has shown an impressive increase in the amount of funds left in the student I-Card Union Market accounts at the end of each academic year.
| Academic Year | Forfeited Funds |
|---|---|
| FY01 | $ 2,873.99 |
| FY02 | $38,204.73 |
| FY03 | $53,164.78 |
In spite of these student contributions, food service loses a considerable amount of money each year. Even with considerable gains in gross profits each year, the Union Market annual reports (pdf) consistently show operating losses in excess of $200,000 each year. Some line items in FY03 that would merit further investigation include utility expenses that almost doubled and a very suspicious $13,000 amount in an account for cash shortages. Better management of this operation could increase the bottom line and serve the students better.