Next semester a new less expensive meal plan will be made available to all students living in apartments and houses.

Starting in the fall, the “Apartment” meal plan will now cost $500 less per year than the “Any 20,” “Flexboard I” or “Flexboard II” meal plans. The revised meal plan will provide students 400 flex points, $200 in declining balance and $500 dining dollars per semester.

Errol Huffman, director of Dining Services, stated that this change was “primarily due to student input,” and there are no additional changes to the meal plan options. Huffman says, “the [apartment] plan is limited to those who qualify for apartment housing,” so students living in dormitory-style residence halls will not be eligible for this plan. The Apartment meal plan will cost $2,848 per semester, while the three other meal plan options will be $3,098 per semester.

In the 2015-16 academic year, the dining services Apartment meal plan included 400 flex points, $200 in declining balance and $750 dining dollars per semester. The revised plan includes $250 fewer dining dollars than the previous Apartment meal plan.

The idea for a less expensive meal plan was originally introduced in Senate, then a specific outline was drawn up by Senate’s director of Financial Strategy Ben Kaufman ’16, who worked closely with Molly Hogan ’16, Shivani Rishi ’16 and Elon Gordon ’17. The outline was then brought to Steve Hietsh, associate vice president for Auxiliary Services and Budget Management, and Errol Huffman, the director of Dining Services, who helped further develop the plan before presenting it to the Planning and Budget Committee. The plan was approved as part of the overall college budget for the next fiscal year, said Kaufman.

“The idea for a cheaper meal plan was part of a long-time call for more meal plan options, especially by upperclassmen,” Kaufman said. The previous plan would discourage students living in apartments to cook their own meals but with the new plan, Kaufman explained, they will have the “flexibility to have the connection with campus that eating in the dining hall brings, while also giving them the ability to have the independence of preparing meals at home.”

Kaufman estimates that in a standard four-person apartment, if all four students in an apartment choose the apartment plan, they would save a total of $2,000 per year, which would leave $67 each school week for home cooking. “We think that the reduction in cost is effective in allowing students to cook at home, but still have the convenience of being part of a campus meal plan,” Kaufman said.

“That sounds appealing to me,” said Austin Lieber ’17. “I would like to be able to make more meals at home, assuming getting to the grocery store is easier than in previous years.” Lieber added, however, that “a dollar in the Dickinson meal plan goes a lot further than it does in the store,” which students will have to consider when they may make the decision cook at home or eat on campus.

“I don’t plan on eating on campus anymore I plan on making food at home,” says Michael Dunn-Weiss ‘18, who intends to use the new plan next year. “My parents will appreciate the cheaper option,” he adds.