What happened to the days of endless amounts of free, crappy cafeteria food?

At Ohio State, the objective is to force the most nonsensical, backwards meal plans upon students.

A student heads to Marketplace and grabs an entrée and a side. The cashier rings up the total to about $10, and the student pays with one swipe of the BuckID.

That same student, following a workout at the RPAC, burns another swipe on a $3 strawberry banana smoothie and a $.99 protein bar.

So is a swipe worth $4 or $9?

According to OSU’s dining plan website, a swipe “is generally equivalent to a meal. A swipe’s food allocation varies.”
In other words, “we rip you off where we see fit.”

Part of it depends on which meal plan a student purchases. The more swipes one buys, the cheaper each costs.

A student who selects the Deluxe Plan of 250 swipes pays $6 a swipe. A student who chooses the Gray Plus Plan of 100 swipes pays $10.20 a swipe.

That might explain the fluctuation in swipe values at different eating locations on campus. It does not, however, signal the end of OSU’s corner cutting.

At Sloopy’s Diner, one swipe earns a student $5.50 in food. Anything exceeding that must be covered by another swipe or another method of payment. So, although the most cost-effective meal plan has students paying $6 a swipe, at Sloopy’s, that swipe gets students just $5.50.

The swindling only worsens as the quarter elapses. Because swipes don’t carry over from one term to the next, OSU pulls out all the stops to sweep up swipes.

Students can buy cases of Vitamin Water or juice, typically seven swipes for a package of 28 or 35. That same case goes for about $5 at any grocery store. OSU’s seven-swipe charge costs a student on the Deluxe Plan $42. For a student on the Gray Plus Plan, seven swipes are worth $71.40. It’s not always better to buy in bulk, apparently.

All first-year students at OSU are required to suffer through the meal plan scam. For those living on campus after their freshman year, purchasing a meal plan is not required. However, if non-first-year students live on campus and choose not to use a meal plan, they must still pay a $500 fee.

There’s just no way of getting around it. If you want to eat, OSU will make you pay how it sees fit.