The University of Florida offers meal plans for students who want to have a meal ready rather than worry about what they will eat, or perhaps cook, during the course day. The problem with this idea, however, is that students often don't take full advantage of this system. Whether it's cooking, eating out, or even coming home on weekends, there are several factors that can prevent you from taking full advantage of your meal plan. This dilemma often leads families to ask themselves the same question: Is the meal plan provided by universities really worth it? While purchasing a college meal plan seems to make sense for many incoming freshmen, it doesn't always result in the most efficient use of their money. To find out how many students are using their current meal plan, my team went out and interviewed forty students (twenty-three freshmen, six sophomores, six third-years, and five fourth-years) who currently attend the University of Florida in the form of face-to-face questions. Most of the students involved in this study were freshmen, as they are the demographic most encouraged to purchase a meal plan for convenience and social reasons. The students were asked a series of five questions as follows:1. What year are you?2. What type of meal plan do you have?3. How many times a day, on average, do you eat in canteens?4. How many times a week, on average, do you eat in dining rooms or places where flex money is accepted? How many times a week, on average, do you eat store-bought food as a meal? Responses were listed in the format A, B, C, with each letter representing one response. Following this survey, students who were…halfway there…planned for an even greater financial burden. If the total number of meals is adjusted for these factors and decreased to approximately 210, this results in an average of $9.00 for each meal. This average is higher than the cost of entering the dining room as a stranger and not included in the meal plan. While meal plans are touted as a convenient use of money that can be put toward food, it is also a big responsibility that needs to be carefully considered before making the decision to sign up for one. Works Cited “Create an account, add money, or purchase a student meal plan.” Gator 1 Central. Np, nd Web. 14 November 2013. .Landes, Luca. “How a college meal plan wastes money.” Comment on consumerism RSS. Np, nd Web. November 15. 2013. .