Like most other colleges and universities, Bentley requires undergraduate students living in residence halls without kitchen facilities to purchase one of the university meal plans. Why is this the case? The reasons for this — outlined below — take into consideration both practical concerns and students’ emotional well-being and share a common goal: To provide our students with the best possible experience during their time at Bentley.
- One of the biggest differences between high school and college is that in college, students no longer eat meals around their family table. The shared meal experience therefore becomes an important time for them to interact with their peers, forge friendships and develop a sense of community. This is particularly important for our first- and second-year students, who are adjusting to a new home and new ways of living and learning.
- On a practical level, shopping for food, preparing three meals a day and cleaning up afterwards would add to the time pressures that our students already feel. We want to help them focus on learning, not whether they have food for dinner that night.
- Food sharing is one of the main pressure points on roommate relationships. Without a meal plan, differences in students’ ability to pay for food would add to these tensions. We would be concerned about students choosing not to eat or choosing inadequate meals due to their worries about buying food.
- Approximately 2,500 students participate in our meal plan. If a large number of those students began using hot plates, toasters and microwaves to cook meals in their residence hall rooms, this would significantly increase the fire risk for all our residential students.
- Relatedly, if a large number of students began storing food in their rooms, this would significantly increase the likelihood of mice, ants and other pest infestations in our residence halls.